


Somewhere to Begin

by 64907



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Community: je_united, Dirty Talk, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Gags, Getting Together, Hot Springs & Onsen, Loud Sex, M/M, Oral Sex, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Romance, Safe Sane and Consensual, Sharing a Room, Slow Burn, Spanking, Travel, Vacation, Wall Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-23 08:17:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 50,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6110575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/64907/pseuds/64907
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A travel agent, a tour guide, and a one-week vacation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gomushroom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gomushroom/gifts).



> Originally written for JE United. This is a story of happiness, clichés, and porn. Huge thank you to my two betas whose suggestions made this a lot better. This is also on [Livejournal](http://64907.livejournal.com/24872.html).
> 
> About the tags: the dirty talk is actually done in reverse, with person B talking about his expectations on what person A would do to him. The gag use is a makeshift one. The spanking scene is one of the most challenging things I ever worked on in a fic, so my goal in the future is to top that filth.

Jun knew Aiba was up to no good when he showed up for work that morning.  
  
The week was just beginning and Mao-chan hadn’t even provided him the usual bland coffee from the coffeemaker when Aiba arrived in Jun’s cubicle, a noticeable bounce in his steps. He was sporting his trademark smile, and Jun had to drag his hands over his face repeatedly just to wake himself up faster. Talking to Aiba in the mornings required him to be alert.  
  
Aiba perched himself on Jun’s desk, poking at Jun’s calendar filled with post-its in various shapes and colors. Jun was the only one who understood his color-coded organization system, but Aiba seemed keen to find a pattern, if the concentration on his face was anything to go by.  
  
Mao-chan finally arrived with Jun’s coffee, offering a quick but bubbly good morning. She left them, and Jun took a few precious sips before turning to his co-worker.  
  
“What is it now, Aiba-san?” he asked, a little wary. The last time Aiba had visited his cubicle, he’d made Jun go to a group date as his proxy. It had been a very odd experience for Jun, with girls asking for his number repeatedly and making exaggerated groans of disapproval when he’d finally excused himself.  
  
Aiba was now playing with Jun’s Funassyi stress ball, even tossing it in the air multiple times. “You work too hard, Matsujun.”  
  
Jun stared at the ‘Employee of the Month’ certificate he’d pasted on his cubicle wall before replying. “I have three clients to take care of this week and one of them is going to a cruise trip in Alaska. If you have a favor to ask, please make it quick.”  
  
Aiba reached over to ruffle his hair. Jun tolerated it for a few seconds before shoving Aiba’s hand away, grumbling under his breath about his hair getting ruined, making Aiba laugh.  
  
“It’s not really a favor,” Aiba said, giving him that charming smile. It was the same one that had bagged him the ‘Most Favorable Employee’ award, based on client feedback. “Although yeah, it can be. But not really.”  
  
“Aiba-san…” Jun’s patience was dropping, and he took another sip of his coffee to prevent himself from saying something he didn’t mean.  
  
“Okay, okay.” Aiba put back Funassyi to its rightful place on Jun’s desk. “Julie-san was going to call you to her office to tell you personally, but I asked for the honor since it’s basically me who’s behind it.”  
  
Jun frowned, not really understanding what Aiba was saying. Julie-san rarely summoned him to her office unless she had to hand him certificates or congratulate him personally for his work ethic.  
  
“Anyway, your three clients for the week have been transferred to Mao-chan, Toma-kun, and Riisa-chan.” Before Jun could say anything, Aiba raised his hand to stop him. “Since you won ‘Employee of the Month’ for three months in a row…”  
  
Oh no. Jun knew where this was going.  
  
“I already told Julie-san that it’s fine! When she gave me that,” Jun paused, pointing to the certificate on his cubicle wall, “she made the offer but I refused and I said she shouldn’t bother anymore since I don’t really want the free trip.” He gave Aiba a serious look. “Like I said, I have three clients to plan for, Aiba-san. I have work.”  
  
“No you don’t. Not anymore. At least for a week.” Aiba was grinning—he looked so proud of himself. “And this is where it gets better. Since I handle the local trips, Julie-san entrusted me with your trip!”  
  
Jun shut his eyes, praying to whoever was listening that when he opened them, Aiba Masaki wouldn’t be in his cubicle anymore and he’d be alone with his now-stale coffee and never-ending pile of work.  
  
He should have known that Aiba would interfere in one way or another. Julie-san had always been susceptible to Aiba’s suggestions. Everybody was. Considering that Jun had gone to a group date just because Aiba begged him to, Jun wasn’t really surprised about Aiba’s uncanny ability to persuade people.  
  
Jun had entered Four Leaves Travel and Tours five years ago, and in those years he’d worked tirelessly to gain both of his clients’ and co-workers’ trust. He was a dedicated travel agent, prioritizing his clients’ preferences before anything else.  
  
Julie-san, the company chief, had this policy that whoever got the ‘Employee of the Month’ award for three straight months deserved a week-long vacation, all expenses paid. Jun had acquired the award for seventeen times already in his five-year stay, but this was the first time he received it for three successive months.  
  
Aiba poked his cheek and Jun sighed as he opened his eyes. His prayers hadn’t worked.  
  
“Don’t make that face, Matsujun! You’re the hot guy Matsujun after all!”  
  
Aiba had the weird habit of giving people equally weird nicknames and Jun had gotten used to it a long time ago.  
  
“I can’t go,” Jun insisted. There was nothing else he could add, and Aiba knew it because he ruffled Jun’s hair again.  
  
“So stubborn! But you can’t really refuse since Julie-san already paid for everything. I forwarded all the details of your trip to her for approval and what do you know, she actually said yes to my proposal. No requests for revisions this time, Matsujun! Isn’t that amazing?”  
  
“No,” Jun said flatly, but Aiba’s enthusiasm couldn’t be shattered by anything.  
  
Aiba pretended not to hear him. “Don’t worry, you’re within the budget since it’s a solo trip.” Aiba reached inside his jacket for an envelope, and Jun knew it was a lost cause. “You’re going to Hakuba! Perfect place for skiing!”  
  
“I don’t ski,” Jun protested.  
  
Aiba playfully punched him on the arm, laughing a little. “And you’re staying in the onsen I always recommend to clients. The owner is a good friend of mine and he already knows you’re arriving.” Aiba attempted to wink at him before grabbing his hand to place the envelope on his palm. “Everything’s settled and paid for, so all you have to do is pack and get some sleep because you’re leaving by train first thing tomorrow morning and the trip takes almost five hours.”  
  
“Aiba-san,” Jun tried, but Aiba wasn’t listening, already moving to leave. “Wait! Wait, I said. I can’t go. You have my thanks, really, Julie-san too, but I have to turn this down. I have three clients to take care of.”  
  
Aiba turned back and gave him a serious look. He grabbed both of Jun’s shoulders and Jun felt compelled to listen to what he had to say. Aiba rarely got serious—Jun had only seen him like that when he’d tried to win the limbo rock challenge at last year’s Christmas party.  
  
“Your clients are in good hands. Everything’s been taken care of. You just need to go because I want you to take care of yourself. You work too hard. Too much. You rarely have time for anything other than work and while I do respect that about you, you’re going to kill yourself.”  
  
“You’re exaggerating,” Jun told him. He didn’t shrug off Aiba’s hold on him though. “I take care of myself well enough.”  
  
“Yeah, by drinking that horrible vegetable juice you leave in the fridge every morning during lunch time.” Aiba shook his head. “No, you’re going to listen to me this time. Besides, I owe you for making you go to that group date out of the blue. I’m sorry for that, okay? But really, I’m doing this because we all agree that you need a vacation.” Aiba steepled his fingers in front of him. “Please, Matsujun? I worked really hard to arrange this for you. Please?”  
  
Jun hated how he couldn’t resist Aiba. This must be the reason why Julie-san had agreed to have Aiba deliver the news. Julie-san knew that hardly anyone could resist Aiba and his pleading eyes.  
  
Jun’s shoulders slumped as he looked at coworker’s hopeful expression. He relented with a stiff nod, and Aiba let out a cheer and did a fist pump.  
  
“Julie-san I did it!” Aiba said loudly, despite Julie-san’s office being two floors above them.  
  
“You’re going to have a lot of fun. I made sure of that," said Aiba, patting him on the shoulder twice. He moved to leave, but not before giving Jun two thumbs up and a pathetic attempt at winking.  
  
As soon as Aiba was gone, Jun looked at the envelope in his hands. He placed it on his desk and sighed, reaching out to remove the post-its he’d stuck to his calendar for this week.  
  
He wasn’t going to need them anymore.  
  
\--  
  
Sho knew everything was going according to plan when he received the email from his boss approving his request for leave.  
  
He hadn’t filed for leave in two years, but this year he promised himself he would go skiing until his limbs ached, that he would enjoy the view of the Northern Alps while soaking in an onsen. He swore he would enjoy the handmade soba that was Nagano’s specialty, and that he would finally experience for himself the trip he often guided people to.  
  
Sho loved traveling, which became the primary reason why he adored his job as a tour guide. But the problem about being a tour guide was that he had no time to go on trips of his own choosing, always going where the company assigned him next. He had been assigned to Kyoto for the past six months, but for the upcoming shuffle, he was going to be back in Tokyo.  
  
Tokyo had always been the most stressful of all places since it was the capital. While Sho pretty much had the map of Tokyo memorized, staying in Kyoto for six months required him to refresh his memory. He wasn’t really looking forward to the additional studying he had to do. He also had to brush up on his English—the language majority of foreign tourists resort to when their broken Japanese has reached its limits.  
  
Since he wasn’t too keen on the idea of memorizing English phrases from a phrasebook so soon and needed a breather, he chose to apply for a leave. And he chose the remote Nagano since he wanted to be away from all the stress for a little while.  
  
He already had the entire trip planned out, made his reservations. Everything was taken care of in his usual thoroughness and he couldn’t be more excited, temporarily putting the idea of work aside.  
  
“So what souvenirs can you bring me, Sho-kun?” Maki-chan asked when Sho went by the water dispenser to get something to drink. She had recently gotten married but contrary to expectations, she didn’t quit the tour guide job.  
  
Sho had consulted her about Nagano. Maki had lived there for six months, met her husband, and married him after dating for only two months. It was she who was being transferred to Kyoto this time. They all just happened to be in the main office at present because their boss, Suzuhara-san, was celebrating his birthday and it was a company decision to hold a big surprise for him.  
  
“How about Hakuba coffee? I think you and your husband can use that.”  
  
Maki made a considering noise. “I stayed in Nagano for six months but I actually miss that coffee. So yes, please. That’d be perfect.”  
  
“Consider it done then, Maki-chan.” He moved to leave, giving her a brief nod. “Please give my regards to your husband.”  
  
She nodded back, flashing him a small smile. Sho walked back to the party, laughing at Maruyama’s pitiful attempts to imitate Suzuhara-san. Maru was making exaggerated faces and movements while doing his so-called “top ten Suzuhara-san impressions”, earning the laughter of most of Sho’s colleagues. He looked around and couldn’t help noticing that nearly everyone in the company was beginning to settle down.  
  
Maki-chan was the recent newlywed, and Suzuhara-san had thrown a congratulatory party for her in the nearby izakaya a few days ago. Before her there was Mukai-kun who was often assigned in either Fukuoka or Okinawa. Sho was convinced that everybody seemed keen to enter another stage of their lives, though of course there were still those who were like him, people who didn’t seem to have anyone in their lives at present—like Maru, for example.  
  
Sho was getting older in a few weeks, and it seemed that the more birthdays he had, the more frequent the questions regarding marriage came. With him living in different prefectures every six months, it was growing increasingly difficult to find anyone. Not that he was actively searching—it was just that people were a little too interested when he truly had nothing to offer.  
  
Selfishly, it was also one of the reasons why Sho was going to take a week-long break. Most of his colleagues who got assigned in Tokyo for the shuffle were the nosy ones, and while Sho didn’t necessarily mind being poked and prodded from time to time, he still required a bit of mental preparation in order to properly deflect their questions and turn down their offers and invitations.  
  
He was going to Nagano to escape Tokyo for a while, to have a bit of time to himself. It was Maki-chan who’d recommended Nagano to him, having stayed there for half a year. When she’d learned that Sho loved soba, she’d insisted that he simply had to try out the handmade ones. And Sho, who was as enthusiastic about food as he was about his job, couldn’t find any reason to turn down her suggestion.  
  
It was also her who’d recommended him a place to stay and all the restaurants he could check out. Sho had been relying on Maki’s personal experience when he was still planning this little vacation, but he had this feeling that this trip would be fulfilling, provide him with the peace of mind that he needed in order to face Tokyo again.  
  
He walked up to where Suzuhara-san was seated, giving his boss a polite bow and sincerely wishing him a happy birthday.  
  
“Have fun in Hakuba, Sakurai!” said Suzuhara in that demanding tone Sho had gotten used to associating with him, while clapping him on the back.  
  
Sho nodded, flashing his boss a wide grin. He had every intention of doing just that.  
  
\--  
  
Jun slept through most of the train ride since he had to wake up at two in the morning to get this early train. He had spent most of the previous night not knowing what to pack and ended up packing way too much.  
  
What was he even supposed to do in Hakuba on a vacation he didn't want in the first place? Aiba had provided him with a suggested itinerary, as if he were an actual client, but he wasn’t really interested in any of the mentioned tourist spots and seeing a castle he shared his last name with—something Aiba had obviously gotten worked up about judging his messy scrawl of ‘You have to visit this one, Matsujun!!!!'—didn't seem that thrilling, either.  
  
The train ride was too long and he had an annoying crick in his neck, but after hours, he was finally there, on the second to the last stop in the middle of nowhere. He got out and hailed a cab to take him to the establishment Aiba had made reservations for, resigned to see this so-called vacation through to the end.  
  
Ninomiya Onsen Ryokan, as the establishment’s name implied, had an onsen and an inn that boasted a grand view of the Northern Alps. To Jun, it was the kind of place he would probably recommend to clients, had he been handling the local accounts like Aiba.  
  
The taxi dropped him off at the entrance, and Jun wished he put on another coat on because of how chilly it was. The breeze from the mountains was contributing to the continuing drop in temperature, and Jun actually made sure to check the temperature on his phone before getting out of the taxi.  
  
“Inside, inside!” someone screamed at him, beckoning him to enter. “Are you a tourist, sir? It gets really cold here during this time of the year.”  
  
“No kidding,” Jun said. His teeth were close to chattering. He heaved his duffel bag over his shoulder and followed the man dressed in yukata. It was cold, but the man didn’t look like he was affected by it. Jun was guided to the front desk, and Jun was just reaching out to tap the tiny bell when the man faced him with a smile.  
  
“Ninomiya Kazunari, at your service,” the man introduced himself with a bow. “Do you have a reservation or are you walk-in?”  
  
“A friend made the reservation for me,” Jun explained, digging through his coat pockets to find the voucher Aiba had printed for him. “Matsumoto Jun, staying here for a week.”  
  
Ninomiya accepted the paper with both hands, bowing a little as he did so. He scanned it quickly before looking over an opened ledger, and Jun busied himself with examining the place, the furniture laid out in the corridor. Everywhere he looked spoke of tradition, but the place seemed lived in, not something built just to entertain guests. From what Aiba had told him, the business had been passed on from generation to generation, and who he had claimed as his “good friend Nino” was now the one managing the establishment.  
  
“Ah yes,” Ninomiya suddenly said, making Jun turn back to him. “Matsumoto Jun-san, indeed. Aiba-chan made the reservation so it took me a little longer to find your name. You see, the name he gave me was Jun-tan.” Ninomiya shot him an amused smile.  
  
Jun almost rolled his eyes, but it would rude to do so in front of Ninomiya. Of course Aiba did something like that. He was at least thankful Aiba didn’t use ‘hot guy’ or ‘strong-faced Matsujun’. He could only imagine how amusing Ninomiya would find that.  
  
“He makes weird nicknames for people,” he said by way of an explanation.  
  
Ninomiya laughed, waving his hand between them. “That’s Aiba-shi for you. No need to be so formal with me, Jun-kun. Aiba-shi’s friend is an automatic friend of mine.” Ninomiya paused, frowning minutely. “You’re staying for a week, yes?”  
  
“Yes,” Jun affirmed, but Ninomiya was still frowning. “Is there something wrong?”  
  
Ninomiya sighed. Then he placed both palms flat on the table’s surface and gave Jun a formal bow, leaving Jun confused. “I’m very sorry to tell you this, Matsumoto-san, but someone high-profile actually walked-in last night and booked almost three-fourths of our rooms. I can’t disclose who it is since she insisted that this is a secret trip between her and her friends, but we had to make adjustments because of their sudden arrival.” Ninomiya bowed once more. “I’m very sorry.”  
  
“So you can’t accommodate me?” Jun asked, uncertain of what to do. He was five hours away from Tokyo via the Azusa, but he didn’t bother to check the schedule of roundtrips. If he had to go back, he had to at least find a place to stay in case there were no more trains that would make the stop in Hakuba.  
  
Ninomiya shook his head. “No, we can accommodate you. You have a reservation after all.”  
  
“Then what is the problem?” Jun was confused now, and he was sure it was evident on his face.  
  
Ninomiya let out another sigh, looking conflicted. But in the end he opened his mouth, and what he said next made Jun’s eyes widen.  
  
“Someone would be rooming in with you.”  
  
\--  
  
“What?” was Sho’s first word the moment he arrived at Maki-chan’s recommended onsen—Ninomiya’s. Maki-chan had claimed that Ninomiya was very accommodating and friendly, prone to snarky comments but always careful not to bruise anyone’s ego. Sho was kind of excited to meet him, but he couldn’t help raising his voice when Ninomiya told him that he would have to share the room with someone just because a famous model had an unprecedented Hakuba trip with her friends.  
  
Ninomiya was apologizing again, his forehead close to touching the table’s surface because of how deeply he was bowing. “You have my sincerest apologies, Sakurai-san. But as I’ve informed you, this is only temporary. As soon as we have other rooms available, you’ll get a separate one. But because of this inconvenience, I intend to refund half of the amount you paid for the accommodation.”  
  
“I don’t want a refund,” Sho said, shaking his head. “I want a private room.”  
  
“I understand that, I really do. And I couldn’t be sorrier. But all rooms in the inn are currently occupied—it is peak season after all—and you’re not the first one to experience this, I assure you. Still, my sincerest apologies for this inconvenience.”  
  
Sho took a deep breath, attempting to rein in his temper. “Give me a moment please.”  
  
Ninomiya nodded. “Of course.”  
  
Sho fished out his phone, fingers quickly typing to search for an alternative inn with an onsen. Hell, he’d even settle for just an inn. But as Ninomiya had told him, it was peak season, the middle of winter, and all places seemed full. It wasn’t within Sho’s budget to stay in an overpriced fancy suite. This wasn’t a company-paid trip, after all. Everything was coming from his savings, his own pocket.  
  
He had just arrived in Hakuba after looking forward to it for the past few weeks, and this was what welcomed him?  
  
He allowed himself five more minutes to find alternative accommodations, but all his searches yielded nothing. Sighing, he finally turned to Ninomiya, who immediately bowed his head in apology for the third time.  
  
“This person I’m rooming with,” Sho began, still not liking the idea of it, “is this person aware of the arrangement? I don’t want to be the one who has to tell this person of the present situation.”  
  
“That particular guest has arrived earlier than you, Sakurai-san. And yes, I have informed him of the situation and he, although reluctantly, agreed.” Ninomiya looked straight into his eyes. “I would like to offer to personally introduce you to him since he’s a good friend of a childhood friend.”  
  
Sho raised an eyebrow at that. “So you don’t really know him until today?”  
  
The corner of Ninomiya’s lips twitched. “No, but I did meet him earlier and I insist on the introductions, Sakurai-san. We wouldn’t want him to think that I let random people in and out of the room.”  
  
Sho leveled Ninomiya with a look. Wasn’t that what was happening? He didn’t know this guy who was going to be his roommate. He might as well be just a random person entering another random person’s room.  
  
Sho pinched the bridge of his nose. “Half of the reservation, you said?” he confirmed, and Ninomiya nodded. “All right, Ninomiya-san. I want a refund, and I want you to take me to the room, please. I just really want to deposit my stuff there.”  
  
Sho had brought too much, like always. He had a separate mini bag for his “necessities”, which included some wet wipes, lip balm, his wallet, and the envelope that contained the amount he’d withdrawn three days ago. He had a trolley suitcase that contained most of his gray sweaters and parkas, as well as everything that would protect him from Hakuba’s weather. His skiing goggles were also packed neatly inside the suitcase, though the thought of skiing was now the furthest from his mind.  
  
Ninomiya guided him around the inn, his light footsteps a huge contrast to Sho’s heavy ones. Ninomiya didn’t comment when Sho had tracked in a bit of snow earlier at the entrance, and he didn’t even blink when Sho had left wet shoeprints on the wooden flooring at the porch. Had Sho been the innkeeper, he knew he would at least scrunch his nose at the sight.  
  
But Ninomiya did no such thing, and perhaps Maki-chan was right about him being accommodating and friendly to the tourists. It was just unfortunate that his inn wasn’t as accommodating as he seemed to be.  
  
Sho continued trudging after him, his feet slightly squeaking against the floorboards when Ninomiya took a hard right.  
  
Ninomiya bowed once more before assuming the seiza to slide the door open to the first room in that corridor, revealing Sho’s room for a week, as well the roommate that came with it.  
  
\--  
  
Jun wasn’t pleased.  
  
He had repeatedly sent complaints to Aiba, texting his colleague about the development. Aiba had apologized over and over, similar to Ninomiya, but unlike Ninomiya, Aiba had insisted that he should, at least, try to see things in a different light.  
  
Aiba had always been optimistic.  
  
But Jun wasn’t Aiba, so he had trouble looking at the brighter side of things. He was in Hakuba on a forced trip, experiencing cold weather he hadn’t really prepared himself for, lacking in sleep with a slight crick on his neck, and now the person he had to share the room with finally arrived.  
  
With a trolley suitcase that would definitely take up a lot of space.  
  
Ninomiya did the honors, introducing him to a Sakurai Sho who came from Tokyo via a direct taxi to Hakuba. Jun supposed that was all Ninomiya knew about Sakurai because the innkeeper excused himself after, telling them that he would inform them as soon as the inclusive lunch was ready.  
  
It was only a little over 11AM, and Jun didn’t even have two whole hours to himself before his roommate arrived. Temporary roommate, Jun reminded himself. Ninomiya had promised that as soon as they had vacancies, Jun would be informed of it and be provided with one, should he wish it.  
  
“Hey,” Sakurai said, breaking the uncomfortable silence between them. “Ninomiya-san said you came via Azusa. How long was your trip?”  
  
Jun was positive Sakurai was just making conversation, but better him talking than Jun making the awkward attempt. “Almost five hours. I came from Shinjuku.”  
  
Sakurai nodded. “Yeah, well. I was thinking of taking that but I was worrying about feeling too cramped or my neck killing me.”  
  
Exactly what happened to Jun. His eyebrow twitched. “I’m in a company-paid trip so I really don’t have a choice.”  
  
“Oh,” Sakurai mumbled. There was nothing more to add, and Jun only shrugged, turning back to his manga to allow Sakurai to deposit his stuff in the room.  
  
The only part of the room that had the futons in it.  
  
The worst part in this development, Jun realized, wasn’t really sharing the room about the size of ten tatami with a stranger. It was sharing even the sleeping arrangements with a complete stranger. Ninomiya had kindly provided another futon, but Jun couldn’t really sleep outside or ask it of Sakurai since nighttime was definitely colder and there was only one heater available.  
  
He picked up his phone and sent another message of ‘When I get back to Tokyo you better be ready, Masaki’, huffing indignantly as he tossed the device on the low table. He was in the small dining area, using the table as a makeshift desk, sorting out his gadgets and other necessities when Sakurai had arrived.  
  
Jun heard footsteps shuffling, and he looked up to see the embarrassed expression on Sakurai’s round face. It was the first time he had taken a proper look at Sakurai. Jun noticed that he still had snowflakes in his hair and some of his brown locks were sticking to his forehead. He had a round face and bags under his eyes, and he was probably the same age as Jun.  
  
Sakurai was dressed in a brown pea coat and an off-white knitted scarf was wrapped around his neck. He gave the impression of someone on a trip of his own choosing. He was still wearing his matching gloves, though now that Jun was looking at him, he began the process of removing them.  
  
“I was wondering about the futon,” Sakurai began, not really meeting his eyes. Jun knew what he was talking about so he decided to make Sakurai’s life easier.  
  
“I asked Ninomiya-san about an additional heater but he told me they provided only one per room so…” Jun paused, pursing his lips. He had no intention to sleep outside just so Sakurai could have the heater for himself. The weather in Hakuba was dictating decisions now.  
  
Sakurai nodded, a slight flush on his cheeks. “I see. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”  
  
Sakurai turned away, and Jun suppressed the urge to sigh.  
  
He supposed Sakurai wasn’t going to offer to sleep outside.  
  
\--  
  
Matsumoto had given him privacy by staying outside, but Sho knew that would only last for so long. They had to sleep in the same area after all, despite having separate futons.  
  
Thank goodness for that at least, Sho thought.  
  
He’d opted not to unload the contents of his suitcase out of respect for his roommate, instead placing his things in the corner of the sleeping quarters. He’d shoved one futon to the corner as well, wanting to give Matsumoto the space he would undoubtedly want.  
  
Sho had every intention of offering to sleep outside since Matsumoto had arrived in the inn earlier than he did. If possible, he wanted to stay away from his roommate and from the ryokan itself so he wouldn't remember the lack of privacy in his supposedly private room. But then again, the weather in Hakuba wasn’t cooperating with him. If it was this cold during noon, he could only imagine how chilly it would be once night time hit.  
  
Sho consulted his phone for the schedule he organized for himself. He intended to have lunch in the inn since it was part of the package he’d availed then take a taxi to Hakuba Iwatake so he could go skiing till the sun set.  
  
He supposed Matsumoto would enjoy having the place to himself. Sho planned to not stay in the room anyway. He wanted to know Nagano, to familiarize himself with it in case he got assigned here after Tokyo.  
  
There was a soft knock on the door despite Sho not closing it, and he looked up to see Matsumoto looking apologetic despite not really disturbing anything unlike Sho was earlier.  
  
“Lunch is here,” was all he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. He had this fringe that would probably look fluffy to touch if it wasn’t flattened out by the snowflakes that had dried on his hair.  
  
Matsumoto had fierce, large features, and at first they would seem all over the place when combined, but they only contributed to giving him a strong, distinct face even behind the glasses. He had uneven, imperfect skin, but that didn’t really diminish his attractiveness.  
  
Sho looked away, belatedly realizing that he had been staring. He could’ve gotten a proper look at Matsumoto when he’d arrived, but no, he picked now of all times.  
  
“Thanks,” he mumbled, nodding. “I’ll be right there.”  
  
Matsumoto left without another word, and Sho tried to recollect himself for a few moments before following him.  
  
Ninomiya had a rather elaborate course for them, probably because he was truly feeling sorry. There was an entire plate of tuna and salmon sashimi, arranged neatly to form a circle with wasabi and shoyu at the center. There was a pot of mushroom and pork nabe, and finally, small bowls containing miso soup. It was a brunch course, Sho realized, as he assumed seiza and took a seat across Matsumoto.  
  
There was house tea poured for them both, and Matsumoto was currently sniffing it, trying to determine what flavor it was. Doing so fogged up his glasses and he removed them with an irritated sigh. Sho focused on stirring the nabe instead, not wanting to add to his roommate’s ire.  
  
“Are you here for work, Sakurai-san?” Matsumoto asked suddenly, though he was still staring into his teacup as if it held something far more interesting than Sho’s face.  
  
Sho shook his head. “Ah, no. I finally applied for a short leave after two years of not doing so. This is just a vacation before I face my job relocation.”  
  
Matsumoto lifted his head, a slight frown on his face. “What do you do?” Matsumoto asked, but then he shook his head once after. “Sorry, that came out a bit intrusive. But if you don’t mind me asking…?”  
  
“I don’t mind,” Sho said quickly. He was going to stay with the man for a week if none of the rooms would be vacant. He might as well attempt to tell Matsumoto something about himself, just to assure the man that he wouldn’t be trying anything funny in the duration of his stay. “I get reassigned to Tokyo for the next six months. I’m a tour guide.”  
  
The confusion vanished from Matsumoto’s face. He seemed a little amused. “Isn’t that odd. I’m a travel agent, Sakurai-san, though I only handle the international clientele so I’m not really familiar with Hakuba.”  
  
“Begging your pardon, Matsumoto-san, but shouldn’t you at least first try to get to know your own country before knowing others’?”  
  
Matsumoto let out a tiny smile at that, revealing a small dot under his lip. “That’s what Aiba-kun always tells me. He’s my coworker and he planned out this trip for me because I got the ‘Employee of the Month’ award for three straight months. Company policy of sorts.”  
  
Employee of the Month? Wow. Matsumoto must be a true workaholic, though Sho couldn’t really say he wasn’t the same. He would spent weeks studying about architecture and nature just to give tourists the best experience. “I’m sorry that your trip has to come with this inconvenience then.”  
  
“I’m not the one going on a private vacation so really, it’s me who should apologize,” Matsumoto pointed out. “If only you’d known your Hakuba trip would come with me, you probably would’ve headed to Iwate or someplace else.”  
  
Sho shrugged his shoulders. “We’ve both been inconvenienced. But at least we’re getting a refund.”  
  
Matsumoto laughed a little at that. He placed the teacup back on the table before giving Sho a polite bow. “Please keep me in your favor for the next few days, Sakurai-san.”  
  
Sho returned the sentiments, but not without adding “Sho’s just fine, Matsumoto-san” which made Matsumoto smile once more.  
  
“Then it’s Jun, Sho-san.”  
  
Sho inclined his head, not knowing what else to say. He handed Matsumoto a bowl of nabe instead, and when the man smiled in thanks, Sho thought that perhaps having a roommate wouldn’t be as awful as he imagined it to be.  
  
\--  
  
Sakurai, or rather, Sho, had excused himself after lunch. He was going skiing, the one thing that Aiba had been trying to convince Jun to do, but Jun wanted to roam around the ryokan first. Sho had kindly invited him and he’d politely declined, saying that he intended to explore around the area to check out the entire place first.  
  
Sho had left then, and Jun resolved to walk around the onsen to ask any personnel about their recommendations regarding places to eat. He made sure to bring his camera along, since Aiba had texted him the night before about photos they could add to the new promotional materials. Not that Jun had a keen eye for photography, but he’d started it as a hobby a few years ago and of course Aiba knew that. Aiba knew pretty much everything about everyone in the company.  
  
He met a certain Ayase-san, who served as Ninomiya’s partner in managing the establishment. She was quick to smile but easy to get confused, and in a way, she reminded Jun of Aiba because of her airheadedness. She was accommodating though, answering any questions Jun had regarding Nagano to the best of her ability.  
  
She recommended that Jun should try the handmade soba served around Togakushi Shrine since it was a Nagano specialty and he would be missing out if he didn’t. Jun kept her suggestion in mind, remembering that Aiba had written a similar thing in the itinerary he had prepared.  
  
Jun continued looking around after, finding that Ninomiya’s establishment had five public onsens and three private ones. The inn wasn’t as spacious as Jun imagined it to be (though that was probably caused by having a roommate), but Ninomiya made up for it by having a variety of hot springs.  
  
There was the simple thermal spring that was widespread even in Tokyo, an alkaline spring that was popular with women because of the claim that it could contribute to having beautiful skin, a soda-based one that was supposedly good for the joints, a small pool containing radioactive minerals to help lower blood pressure, and finally, a typical saline one that Jun had been into in a few occasions.  
  
The soda-based onsen had a spectacular view overlooking the Northern Alps, and Jun made a mental note to visit it during the night so he could see what the stars looked like past the mountain ranges and snowy cliffs. He took photos for Aiba though, focusing on the view before locating Ninomiya to ask for permission if he could take photos of the establishment.  
  
“Of course, Jun-kun,” Ninomiya said with a smile. “Did Aiba-shi put you up to this?”  
  
Jun tilted his head. “He was insistent.”  
  
That made Ninomiya laugh. “Always has been, that Aiba. Take all the photos you need.”  
  
Jun inclined his head in thanks. “Thank you, Ninomiya-san.”  
  
Ninomiya’s lips twitched. “Call me Nino. That’s what everyone calls me anyway.” He jerked his head towards the corridor. “Come, I’ll give you an exclusive tour.”  
  
Jun followed, and Ninomiya— _Nino_ , Jun reminded himself—introduced him to a couple of his employees. Jun met Ohno Satoshi, the maintenance man, though Nino insisted that Ohno “hardly maintains anything unless I tell him what to do”.  
  
Ohno gave a small laugh at that. “I’ll be here if you need anything, Matsumoto-san.”  
  
Jun liked how his calm demeanor was a contrast to Nino’s quick-witted nature. Nino then explained that Ohno was a childhood friend, and was only employed in the onsen because Nino needed someone who could fillet the fresh fish he was ordering on a daily basis from the market port. Jun learned that Ohno was responsible for the finely cut sashimi he had enjoyed earlier with Sho.  
  
“Do you cook, Matsumoto-san?” Ohno asked since they were in the kitchen now, with Nino thumbing at various pots and pans. It seemed that Ohno also functioned as a cook.  
  
Jun nodded. “Though I mostly cook pasta.”  
  
“Ah, that’s nice,” Ohno said. “We only serve traditional food here so whenever I get a day off I go and eat non-traditional ones. I like ramen, but you can only have too much of it.”  
  
“We’re investing in a yakiniku set next year just so you’ll stop complaining,” Nino interjected, his arms crossed as he leaned against the kitchen counter.  
  
“That’s still traditional and besides, I don’t really like yakiniku,” Ohno muttered, turning to look at Nino. “You ate, like, only three pieces that time we went to the yakiniku place with Haruka-chan so why are you investing on that one?”  
  
“Tourists like yakiniku,” Nino declared. He tilted his head at Jun. “Any suggestions, Jun-kun? We’re overdue for an upgrade here, and while no one is complaining except for Ohno-san, I don’t want to be left behind by other establishments.”  
  
Jun thought about it, absentmindedly stroking his eyebrow. “How about shabu-shabu?”  
  
Nino made a face. “Ugh, that’s expensive you know!”  
  
“Every upgrade is expensive, Nino,” Ohno commented.  
  
“Ah, I should’ve auditioned to be an idol,” Nino murmured, and Ohno laughed.  
  
“He keeps saying that whenever he has to make money-related decisions,” Ohno explained with a knowing grin. “Saying that had he chosen to stay in Tokyo and audition for Johnny’s instead of taking over the family business, he’d be super popular by now and that girls all over the country would scream their lungs out for him.”  
  
Jun imagined it, and he couldn’t help grinning. “Can you sing and dance, Nino?”  
  
“I can do a backflip, Matsumoto,” Nino snapped, tilting his chin up at him.  
  
“Yeah he can, but he’s got back pain so he’s not doing it now,” Ohno said, earning a glare from Nino and another laugh from Jun. Ohno let out a chuckle at Nino’s glowering face, and Jun could see that despite their tendency to tease and make jabs at each other, they were truly good friends.  
  
Nino shook his head, leading Jun out of the kitchen. “The longer we stay in Ohno-san’s presence, the longer it will take him to decide on tonight’s menu.”  
  
Jun heard Ohno snort. “He’s just saying his ego can’t take it anymore.”  
  
Jun laughed at that, much to Nino’s annoyance. Nino finally led him out of the kitchen, showing him the communal baths and the private ones. Apparently, the high-profile celebrity Nino still refused to disclose reserved two of the three private baths, though Nino warned him that he might meet that person in the corridors in the next few days.  
  
“But you still won’t tell me who this person is?” Jun asked, and despite the steam from the doors of the men’s communal bath, he caught Nino’s grin.  
  
“Where’s the fun in that? This trip of hers is a secret, after all. I only give warnings to other guests so as to minimize the shock if they see her.”  
  
Nino then showed him a common room, serving as a lounge for visitors. “I take it I’m never going to see the famous person here?” Jun inquired, and Nino simply shrugged his shoulders.  
  
“You might see some of her friends though. They’re quite a loud bunch. If I didn’t know any better I’d say Haruka-chan is a little stressed because they ask for a lot of things.”  
  
“Does Aiba-san also know Ayase-san and Ohno-san?” Jun had been wondering on how far Nino’s association with Aiba went, because every time he mentioned Aiba’s name, he caught a nostalgic look in Nino’s eyes before the innkeeper blinked it away.  
  
“He knows them because he’s meddlesome,” Nino stated, but Jun couldn’t mistake the affection in his voice. “I lived in Tokyo for a while, you know. I only relocated here permanently after I finally accepted that I was going to be an onsen manager. Aiba-shi and I, we took the same train line back then. Soubusen buddies, the two of us.”  
  
It wasn’t hard to imagine Aiba and Nino walking together day by day, taking the same train. “And Aiba, did he have similar Johnny’s-related feelings?”  
  
Nino laughed, his head thrown back. “Oh, back then we would bicker on who would have the bigger fanbase. I told him people would see him as an idiot and that I’d be more popular. I mean, who would scream for a guy who can’t wink, right? Back then I also said I’d probably work on a Hollywood film in a few years’ time after my debut. Which never happened because we never really applied nor attempted to audition. But it was fun to imagine.”  
  
Jun never really thought Aiba would have this kind of friendship with an onsen owner. When Aiba had said that he knew the owner, Jun had compared it to an acquaintance, a mere exaggeration of friendship.  
  
But seeing the look in Nino’s eyes, hearing the obvious fondness in his voice, it wasn’t like that at all. Jun felt like he saw a side to Aiba that he never bothered to notice. Aiba was meddlesome—Nino said so himself—but he probably did it because he truly cared.  
  
“He sent you here, put you in my care,” Nino said seriously. “He usually sends his clients here, but you’re not a client. You’re his friend, and I know I already said it earlier, but that makes you my friend too. Aiba-shi’s an idiot, and I know this trip probably wasn’t really something you wanted, but he did it with good intentions.”  
  
“He said that when he made the reservation?” Jun asked, incredulous.  
  
Nino shook his head. “He didn’t have to.”  
  
Jun let out a breath, amazed at Nino’s perceptiveness. “I haven’t tried skiing, ever,” he admitted quietly.  
  
He saw Nino’s face break into a smile. “That’s okay. There’s always a first time for everything.”  
  
Nino had said that in a way Aiba would’ve, and Jun felt like that Nino was going to be his Aiba for this trip. Nino then extended his hand towards the grounds outside. “Come on, I’ll show you what I call the ‘hilltop view’.”  
  
Jun smiled, letting Nino lead the way.  
  
\--  
  
Sho went back to the inn just thirty minutes after sunset. His ankles ached a bit because he’d skied till he’d covered all the available trails in Iwatake, but it was worth it. His newly bought ski goggles had served their purpose, and Sho treated it as a good investment on his part.  
  
He arrived to Jun wrapping a scarf around his neck and shivering despite having worn a leather jacket on top of a hoodie. He looked completely wrapped up, but then again, the temperature dropped significantly after the sun had set, and that had been the only reason why Sho had hurried back. He wanted to at least warm himself in an onsen after having an equally warm meal.  
  
“Oh, welcome back,” Jun greeted, and Sho noted that he lost most of his initial apprehension. Something must’ve happened while Sho was skiing.  
  
“Hello,” Sho said, sliding the door behind him. “I hope your day was eventful?”  
  
Jun let out a small smile. “Nino kindly showed me around and introduced me to the staff. But no, I haven’t met the famous person yet.”  
  
“Ah, I only know she’s a model,” Sho said, recalling what Ninomiya had told him earlier when he’d arrived. “Though that doesn’t really narrow things down.”  
  
Jun shook his head. “It doesn’t. Anyway. Nino said dinner would be served in a few.”  
  
Sho nodded. “That’s good to know.” He slid open the door to the sleeping quarters, taking care as he deposited his things. He put on two socks before wearing the provided slippers again, joining Jun in the low table as they waited for dinner to be served.  
  
Sho assumed the seiza to be polite, but soon enough he couldn’t bear it any longer. “I’m sorry,” he said, making Jun look up from his phone, “would you mind if I stretch my legs? My ankles really hurt.”  
  
“No,” Jun replied, shaking his head. He waited until Sho was able to move his feet to the side instead of under his legs. “From skiing?”  
  
Sho nodded, a little embarrassed. “Yeah. I tried to cover all the available trails.”  
  
“I’ve never skied before so I don’t really know,” Jun admitted quietly, pushing his glasses up his nose. Sho noted that he seemed to do that when he was a little uncomfortable. “I don’t think I can excel at it.”  
  
“You wouldn’t know if you don’t try,” Sho pointed out. “It’s really fun. I know I sound like a tour guide trying to sell an attraction, but it’s really fun to slide across the snow and feel that strong breeze trying to push you back.”  
  
“Well, you are a tour guide,” Jun reminded him, and Sho laughed at that, making Jun laugh a little too. “But your marketing skills need work, Sho-san, if you don’t mind me saying. People who haven’t tried it and aren’t sure whether they should would still be torn if that was how you tried to endorse it to them.”  
  
“People like you?” Sho asked, not missing the tiny smile at the corner of Jun’s lips.  
  
“I actually feel like giving it a shot,” Jun informed him. “The staff Nino introduced me to, well, they all said I should. It’s what people are going to Hakuba for, after all.”  
  
“That’s the spirit, Matsumoto-kun,” Sho said, unable to call him by his given name despite Jun already addressing him as Sho-san. In Sho’s head, he could easily refer to Jun as Jun, but somehow, saying it felt too presumptive.  
  
Not that he thought Jun was presumptive for using his name; he honestly liked the way Jun was addressing him. It helped increase the familiarity between them, which, Sho believed, they badly needed seeing as they were sharing close quarters until another room became vacant.  
  
Jun didn’t appear to notice his use of last names though. “But I’ve never really tried skiing so…”  
  
Sho waited, but Jun didn’t say anything else. It took a while for him to understand, almost in time for Jun’s bravado to drain away, but Sho managed to blurt out “well have you got any places in mind?” just in time.  
  
That was when Jun pulled out something that looked like a printed itinerary, although it was filled with rather messy handwriting that served as annotations.  
  
“My travel agent,” Jun began, and Sho didn’t miss the smile he made when he referred to his colleague as such (Aiba? Sho wasn’t very sure), “recommended that I should go see the Ski Jumping Stadium at Happo-One Ski Resort before I try it out.”  
  
Sho chewed on his bottom lip. He loved skiing, sure, but the Jumping Stadium had these really high platforms according to the Hakuba Tourism website, and his acrophobia prevented him from enjoying such a place. Maki-chan had recommended the place to him as well, claiming that seeing it would bring an added thrill before skiing, but Sho didn’t really like the very high view it could give him.  
  
Still, Jun was looking at him with somehow hopeful eyes, and he was someone who’d never tried skiing…  
  
“I’ve never been there,” Sho admitted, peering at the paper and reading the ‘This one’s really good if you want to get excited, Matsujun!!!!!’ footnote for the Ski Jumping Stadium. “But I suppose, yes…I can give it a try.”  
  
They began deciding on a time to visit Happo-One together. Sho was initially going to use the next day to try out all the soba places he could find, but he supposed he could move that to the afternoon.  
  
He could teach Jun how to ski first.  
  
When they finally agreed on what time they would wake up, Sho didn’t know what else to add. Jun wasn’t as menacing as Sho had thought him to be when they first met, and his sincerity and eagerness to learn was evident in the way he paid attention.  
  
Jun’s face broke into a sincere smile as soon as they were done, and Sho almost told him to quit it but he held his tongue. He was thankful for the soft “Excuse the intrusion” that he heard outside, signaling the arrival of their dinner.  
  
It was Ninomiya who personally delivered their meal, carrying a tray filled with raw seafood. Sho’s mouth nearly watered when he saw the ark shells neatly arranged in one plate. Sashimi was included as well, but instead of tuna and salmon, there was salmon roe, scallop, and sea bream.  
  
Sho knew he’d availed of complimentary meals, but this was a little extravagant. He was sure he hadn’t paid for this. “Ninomiya-san, isn’t this a bit too much?” he asked, even though he couldn’t take his eyes off the ark shell.  
  
Ninomiya only grinned before moving back towards the door to retrieve another tray, and Sho stared as the innkeeper placed a plate of surf clam and abalone on the table.  
  
“I feel bad for forcing you two to share a room,” Ninomiya said, though his expression looked nothing similar to what he was saying. If anything, he looked triumphant that he’d managed to serve them something good. “So please, enjoy. Ohno-san prepared all of these with care.”  
  
“Are you going to charge extra for all of these?” Jun asked. Sho detected a hint of amusement in his voice, and he wondered how Jun’s day went, if he was that comfortable with Ninomiya already.  
  
“I will charge for the sake,” Ninomiya replied, standing up swiftly. “But you can pay for it when you bill out. Any requests?”  
  
Sho exchanged one look with Jun before he nodded, letting Jun decide. “Zen sake, Nino, if you please.”  
  
“Please wait for it. In the meantime, please enjoy your meal.” Ninomiya left them then, and Sho couldn’t decide which one to eat first.  
  
“Do you like shellfish?” Jun suddenly asked, and Sho looked up to see Jun watching his face. He must’ve been staring at them hungrily.  
  
He felt his face grow hot. “When I was in fourth grade, my family went to Mie, and I ended up eating so much shellfish that the shop owner asked me, ‘Won’t you visit us again, brother of the sea?’”  
  
Jun laughed at that, a real one that turned his eyes to slits. Sho wished he would smile more, seeing as it really suited him. “A while ago Nino was asking what to serve for dinner. Ohno-san is the maintenance guy by title, but he mostly sticks around the kitchen.”  
  
Sho hummed, finally understanding. “Are you the person behind this ridiculous serving of shellfish?”  
  
Jun waved his hand. “No, but when I looked at what they had in stock, I felt like having shellfish and made the selfish request.” Jun flashed him a tiny grin. “I often buy these in the supermarket and eat them while drinking sake.”  
  
Not too different from Sho then. Back in Kyoto, every time he had to handle the tour that consisted of foreigners, he’d rewarded himself by buying ark shell from the supermarket along with any alcoholic beverage he felt like drinking.  
  
“But these aren’t supermarket shellfish so I’m really looking forward to how they taste,” Jun finished, just in time for Ninomiya to return with a bottle of zen sake.  
  
Despite their mutual insistence that they could do it, Ninomiya poured drinks for them both before leaving them with another curt bow along with a reminder of “Enjoy, and when you’re done, you can leave the trays at the corridor.”  
  
Sho steepled his fingers in front of him, putting all his effort in saying his graces.  
  
\--  
  
After the dinner that had consisted mostly of Sho repeatedly claiming how tasty the shellfish were, Jun spent the rest of that night talking to his roommate and learning more about what kind of work he did. As a travel agent, most of Jun’s knowledge extended overseas and involved more budgeting work combined with research work and subsequent coordination. He’d never really been to the places he was recommending to people, except maybe for Las Vegas, parts of Spain, Paris, and New York.  
  
Sho, meanwhile, being a tour guide, knew about the places he took people to because he had, on multiple occasions, experienced being there. It was different from Jun’s job that only required a decent internet connection and the patience to read through a couple of food and traveler blogs.  
  
“I’ve never been assigned to Okinawa,” Sho was telling him as he poured himself another shot of sake. Ninomiya had delivered another bottle to them, shaking his head as he did so and claiming that they could really hold their liquor.  
  
“You can’t petition for that or something? Like request for it?” Jun asked, taking a sip from his cup.  
  
“Oh, I haven’t really tried that,” Sho said, blinking repeatedly like he was wondering why he didn’t think of that before. “But I’ve been to Kyoto, and before Kyoto it was Osaka, and before that, Nagoya.”  
  
“And now they’re sending you back to Tokyo,” Jun finished for him.  
  
Sho nodded, pursing his lips after taking a drink. “They probably are because of the tourist feedback. I can speak passable English since my mother is an English professor, and most foreign tourists in Tokyo aren’t really conversant in Japanese.”  
  
Jun had had to deal with foreign clients in the past so he could somehow understand Sho’s feelings regarding foreigners suddenly codeswitching when their phrasebook failed them.  
  
“What do you like in Tokyo, Matsumoto-san?” Sho suddenly asked. He was waving his hands awkwardly. “I mean, if you like Tokyo at all. The tour always gets changed and we base it on what people like to see.”  
  
Jun spent a few moments to think. Tokyo Tower was an obvious choice, but very much overused. Sho had undoubtedly heard Tokyo Tower being mentioned countless times in his tour guide career.  
  
“I like Yoyogi Park,” he answered honestly, looking outside. He and Sho had opted to sit together on the porch and drink their sake whilst looking out into the night, and although their room didn’t have a perfect view of the mountains, it had the clear, unobstructed outlook of the night sky that Jun adored.  
  
“I went to Central Park in New York last year during the New Year’s, and when I was there, I couldn’t help thinking of Yoyogi. I guess I like it because it’s home, because when I go there and I remember that yes, I’m in Japan, I’m in Tokyo, I’m surrounded by my countrymen. Not that I felt homesick when I was in New York, but when I was there I felt like I was an oddity, like I didn’t truly didn’t belong and was, in every sense of the word, a foreigner.”  
  
He stopped then, turning to face Sho, only to find Sho looking at him and listening intently.  
  
Jun shook his head, suddenly self-conscious. “But Yoyogi wouldn’t be a popular choice unless there are cherry blossoms blooming, right?”  
  
“Tourists like cherry blossoms,” Sho affirmed with a soft smile on his face. Added to the pink tinge on his cheeks because of the sake, Jun found him attractive. He first met Sakurai Sho when there were snowflakes in his hair and his cheeks were puffy from the cold. Now that there was only alcohol between them, Jun felt like he didn’t really bother to look at Sho before.  
  
“But I’m going to be in Tokyo for the next six months so the trees would bloom by then,” Sho murmured, smiling wider at him. “Thank you for sharing that with me, Matsumoto-san.”  
  
“Ah, it was nothing.” Jun waved his hand in dismissal. “I rarely get asked about local tourist spots, always about the Louvre or Sagrada Familia.”  
  
“What was Spain like?” Sho asked, pouring more sake for him and Jun after Jun had inclined his head in permission. “I’ve always wanted to go there, maybe watch a soccer match when it’s in season, but I always forget to apply for a leave.”  
  
“You can always watch a match in Barcelona,” Jun commented, his travel agent side kicking in. “I’ve been to the Aqueduct in Segovia, and there, people would really abuse the panorama feature of their phones.”  
  
Sho laughed at that, a rich sound that made the sides of his eyes crinkle. “People here, in Japan I mean, try to do that with the Rainbow Bridge.”  
  
“I’d like to see someone try doing that at the Great Wall,” Jun said, and Sho laughed again, his shoulders shaking and making Jun laugh along with him.  
  
Jun finished his sake and moved to tidy up. “It’s late and we’re up for an early start, Sho-san.”  
  
Sho nodded, but leaned back on the heels of his palms. “Just let me enjoy this for a while.”  
  
Jun looked out, finding the North Star shining brightly just above a crescent moon. It was a wonderful scenery, a far outcry from the skyscrapers in Tokyo that Jun was accustomed to seeing outside his apartment window. Wherever Sho was from, Jun was certain it didn’t differ much. They both didn’t have time to appreciate something like this before.  
  
So instead of standing up Jun leaned back, imitating Sho’s position, and chose to watch the stars, even just for a little while.


	2. Chapter 2

Sho felt awful when he didn’t see Jun on the other futon upon waking up.  
  
After they’d tidied up and left the sake bottle in the corridor alongside the rest of the dirty dishes, they’d bidden each other a good night and slept in the same room. Sho had been inebriated enough that he fell asleep immediately, but when he woke to his alarm and discovered that Jun, in his cute striped pajamas, was sleeping at the low table with his arms folded and serving as his pillow, Sho knew.  
  
He must have been snoring.  
  
He didn’t bring a mouthpiece since he thought he’d be alone, but it completely slipped his mind to buy one when he had been on his way back to the onsen.  
  
Jun slept soundly, and when Sho checked, he found Jun’s phone with a Michael Jackson case peeking underneath the pillow of the other futon. Jun must’ve left it there when he’d decided to move to the low table since Sho’s snoring was keeping him up.  
  
Sho moved quietly to the bathroom, brushing his teeth quickly and taking care not to wake Jun yet. He didn’t know how to. It wasn’t like they were late; Sho simply had the habit of setting his alarm an hour earlier than he should so he could mentally prepare himself for the day he was going to have.  
  
So it was still early, and Sho was sure Jun’s phone wouldn’t go off for another hour. Sho decided to prepare instead, packing an additional pair of socks and gloves with his ski goggles. He only had to pack a change of clothes after he’d decided to serve as Jun’s personal ski tutor, and when he was done, he slid out of the room quietly to find Ninomiya.  
  
“Ah, good morning, Sho-chan,” was how Ninomiya greeted him in the front desk, though it had ended in a yawn. Sho returned the greeting as Ninomiya stretched, looking very much at home and not bothered by Sho’s presence despite him being a guest. “Breakfast is miso soup, onigiri, and spring rolls. Don’t ask me why, that’s Oh-chan for you. I’ll bring them shortly since you’re awake. Where’s Jun-kun?”  
  
“Still asleep,” Sho answered. “Can you call a taxi for us, Ninomiya-san? After breakfast.”  
  
Ninomiya nodded, already picking up the receiver of the telephone. “Call me Nino though. I get sick of the formality every time.” He started dialing and Sho half-listened to him making the reservation and half to the sounds in the quiet establishment.  
  
Aside from the constant rustling of the pine trees outside because of the mountain breeze, he really couldn’t hear anything else.  
  
“Where did you say you’re going?” Nino asked, tucking the receiver away from his mouth.  
  
“Happo-One Ski Resort,” Sho told him, and Nino nodded, relaying the information to the operator before putting the phone down.  
  
“Reservation’s under your name, and the taxi will be here an hour and a half after breakfast.”  
  
Sho thanked him, bowing a little, and Nino responded with a salute and a grin.  
  
On the way back to his room, he tried to be careful in his steps because he didn't want to disturb any of the sleeping guests. Jun, too, was still asleep when he returned, but Nino did say that breakfast was coming, and Sho didn’t want Jun to be woken rudely by the sound of the door sliding and Nino dumping trays on the table.  
  
He shook Jun awake, albeit softly, and couldn’t help smiling when Jun buried his face further in his arms with a tiny grunt. He reminded Sho of children who hated Monday mornings.  
  
Sho did it again. “Matsumoto-san.”  
  
Jun turned his head away, and Sho tried once more. “Matsumoto-san, breakfast is coming.”  
  
Jun slowly lifted his head, and Sho found it difficult to look away from how his eyelids slowly fluttered open. He had long eyelashes and really brown eyes that matched the color of his hair. His fringe was obscuring his distinct eyebrows so Sho couldn’t really see if he was frowning or not.  
  
“What time is it?” Jun asked groggily, and Sho quickly pulled his hand away, realizing that he had been holding on to Jun’s arm even after Jun had opened his eyes.  
  
“Fifteen to seven,” Sho answered, walking towards the room to fetch Jun’s glasses for him.  
  
He came back to Jun fumbling around, blinking sleepily as his hands moved to try and find his glasses somewhere around him. Sho handed it to him with a quiet “Here” and Jun accepted, nodding in thanks before putting them on.  
  
Sho sat across the low table, watching Jun adorably trying to make himself look more presentable by straightening out his top and fixing his hair.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out, making Jun halt in his movements. “I know why you had to sleep here. I’ve been doing that for years, and for that I’m really sorry. You didn’t get enough sleep because of it.”  
  
He looked down, not wanting to meet Jun’s eyes, feeling ashamed.  
  
He heard Jun sigh. “You snored like a foghorn last night, Sho-san.”  
  
“I know,” Sho mumbled in embarrassment. “One of my colleagues recorded it during the company trip two years ago and played it on loop on the way back home.”  
  
He looked up, seeing Jun stifling a laugh behind his hand before finally giving in to his giggles. Jun was wiping the corner of his eye with his thumb when he spoke again. “I’m not a morning person, Sho-san, so as early as now I’m apologizing if act a little grouchy the moment I wake up.”  
  
Sho didn’t really see a grumpy Jun today, but there were the upcoming days to consider. He supposed he only managed to not see it because he’d ended up making Jun laugh when he’d talked about how Maru made a ringtone of him snoring.  
  
There was soft knock on the door followed by Nino sliding it open, and he looked too energetic with the smile he was sporting. Across from Sho, Jun snorted.  
  
“You look like Aiba,” Jun said, and to Sho’s surprise, Nino’s eyes widened in shock.  
  
“That is the worst thing you can say to me,” Nino told him, setting bowls of hot miso and plates of freshly prepared onigiri and fried spring rolls on the table. “I don’t look like that idiot. I’m far more handsome than he will ever be.”  
  
“You smile like Aiba,” Jun clarified, and Sho couldn’t help laughing a little when Nino glared at Jun.  
  
“Don’t ever compare me to him again, Matsumoto, or I’ll pour curry powder in your meal and call it ‘an accident’. We’ll see who’s smirking by then,” Nino threatened, already on his way out of the room. “Your taxi will arrive in a little over an hour so I suggest you stuff yourselves now.”  
  
He left after, sliding the door quietly behind him. Sho spent his breakfast in companionable silence, punctured only by occasional sips of miso and praise for the food. Sho felt like he had to meet this Ohno-san since anything he made, albeit not really special, was very much suited to Sho’s palate.  
  
When they finished eating, Sho let Jun to use the bathroom first and volunteered to tidy up the dirty dishes himself. To give Jun privacy, he stayed outside and watched the sky over the mountains, fondly remembering the conversations from last night.  
  
There was a clear blue sky today and it would be the perfect weather for skiing.  
  
Jun tapped him on the shoulder lightly when he was done, and Sho took a bath in record time, not wanting to be late and make Jun wait too long. Somehow, it seemed like he was more excited about the skiing trip than Jun was, but Jun did warn him that he was terrible during mornings, and it was only fifteen past eight.  
  
They walked side by side when they left the room, carrying their bags (a backpack for Sho and a small duffel for Jun) to find Nino chatting animatedly with the taxi driver. Sho wondered if Nino knew everyone and acted familiar around them no matter who they were.  
  
Nino introduced them to the driver, addressing him as Matsu-nii and earning a click of the tongue from the man, though he didn’t bother to correct Nino.  
  
“It’s Matsuoka, actually,” Matsu-nii, or Matsuoka now that Sho knew what the ‘Matsu’ stood for, explained while driving. “Ninomiya only likes calling me that because Aiba calls me that. He also told me you knew Aiba,” he added looking at Jun in the rear view mirror.  
  
Jun nodded. “He planned this trip for me.”  
  
“Would you look at that, that kid who couldn’t recognize an EXILE song in karaoke now plans out trips for somebody else!” Matsuoka said with pride and affection in his voice. “Aiba’s doing well then? I haven’t seen him in a while.”  
  
Jun offered their driver a smile. “He’s doing great, but I don’t think you’ll find that anything’s changed about him. He still makes mistakes regarding song titles and sings the wrong lyrics during karaoke.”  
  
Matsuoka laughed. “Yeah, that kid, along with Ninomiya and Ohno—what a troublesome bunch. I thought Aiba would help out in Ninomiya’s onsen like Ohno so I was really surprised when I found out that he’s in Tokyo and working for a travel agency. Couldn’t believe it at first.”  
  
Sho listened how Jun patiently answered any queries Matsuoka had about Aiba, even laughing when Jun relayed the story on how Aiba brought his car to the mall only to come home riding a taxi. It made Sho curious to meet who this Aiba was, because the more Jun spoke about him, the more he had the feeling that Aiba wasn’t too different from Nino.  
  
Matsuoka dropped them off at the Ski Resort in less than fifteen minutes since there was hardly any traffic. It was still early, but there was already a decent crowd consisting of couples and families.  
  
Sho tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach when he saw the stadium, towering past the other buildings. He knew they could take an elevator to see the 90- and 120-meter jumps from the top, but he honestly felt like throwing up at the idea.  
  
Jun’s face, however, said the exact opposite when Sho glanced at him. Jun had this amazed look in his eyes, like a kid on his first Disneyland trip, and Sho knew he was just doomed. He tried to cover up for his nervousness by talking about the stadium based on what he’d researched as he and Jun made their way to the lifts.  
  
But eventually Sho couldn’t stifle the nerves and he had to close his eyes as the elevator went up. He felt someone tugging at his sleeve and he opened his eyes, only to find Jun looking at him with concern, some of his hair falling over his eyes. He wore contacts today, since wearing ski goggles over his glasses would be too troublesome, and Sho found it difficult to look away from his eyes.  
  
“You okay?” Jun asked, obviously a bit worried.  
  
“I,” Sho tried, moistening his lips, “I don’t really like heights.”  
  
The elevator steadily rose up, and there were children who kept jumping and made Sho very nervous. “You should’ve told me,” Jun muttered. “I could’ve gone up here on my own and you could’ve waited at the base.”  
  
Sho nodded. He should’ve told Jun. But then again…  
  
“Who’s going to tell you about the Winter Olympics if I didn’t come with you?”  
  
Jun laughed a little at that. “There’s a tour guide.” He tilted his chin towards the female tour guide talking animatedly to the other passengers of the elevator.  
  
“Yeah but does she know the exact distribution of points Funaki-senshuu and his team achieved for the large hill competition in the 1998 Winter Olympics?”  
  
Jun looked like was suppressing the urge to grin. “No, I don’t think so. Tell me what you know then, Sho-san.”  
  
So Sho did, reciting numbers that he’d memorized from a trivia book when he was on the way to Hakuba. He didn’t think they’d be useful, but seeing Jun smile, hearing him hum as Sho spouted information after another, it was worth it. It was something to focus on, and pretty soon Sho forgot that they were at the top of the 120-meter hill.  
  
“You told me you’ve never been assigned to Nagano,” Jun said when they were back on the ground and Sho could breathe normally again. “How did you know all of those?”  
  
“Guidebook,” Sho admitted, hoping his cheeks wouldn’t redden.  
  
“Do you always memorize them like that?”  
  
Sho shrugged. “Only when there’s nothing else to do.”  
  
Jun grinned. “You must have been super bored then.”  
  
Eventually they made their way up to the ski trails by riding a gondola, and Sho noticed that Jun’s sudden silence mirrored his own from the elevator earlier. It was Jun who wanted to give skiing a shot, but now he seemed less enthusiastic about it.  
  
Sho let him be, but when they finally rented the gear and dressed themselves and were at the peak of the trail, he decided to speak his mind. “We don’t really have to do this if you don’t want to.”  
  
Jun’s shoulders slumped. Even through the thick jacket, Sho could see the big breaths he was taking. Jun possessed broad shoulders, and no amount of jackets or coats did well in hiding them. “I think I’m going to make a fool of myself here.”  
  
Sho trekked closer to him, enough for his skis to meet the edges of Jun’s. “I had to fall on my face countless times just to get the proper gliding right.” When Jun looked at him, he pulled down his goggles so Jun could see the sincerity in his eyes. “My mother laughed at me over and over, but hey, look. I’m the one skiing now in my free time while she just stays in our house at Gunma during holidays. You’ll be fine. We’ll go slow, and it’s not like I’m expecting you to do a ski jump by the end of the day.”  
  
“You can’t do a ski jump, Sho-san,” Jun pointed out. Sho could hear the smile in his tone and that was enough for him.  
  
He moved back to his position earlier, putting his goggles back on. He tilted his head towards the trail, his grip on the ski poles tightening minutely. “Ready?”  
  
He couldn’t really see Jun’s face, but hearing the determination in his voice was enough.  
  
“Lead the way.”  
  
\--  
  
Jun had fallen countless times on the snow, but his initial embarrassment had been replaced by laughter every time it happened because he couldn’t believe how hopeless he was.  
  
He wasn’t that bad, but he wasn’t good either. Sho had told him he just needed practice and he did well for his first ski session, but in Jun’s memory, he must have been laughing on the ground surrounded by snow eighty percent of the time.  
  
When Sho had finally complained about his ankles, they returned the equipment to the renting shops before enjoying cups of coffee from a cheap coffee machine.  
  
“I was horrible, wasn’t I?” Jun asked, shaking his head with a smile. “I totally wasted your time.”  
  
Sho shook his head. “No, you weren’t. And you didn’t. You haven’t tried it before so it was natural that you’d stumble and fall. It’s perfectly normal.”  
  
“You’re just being nice. There was a rock earlier that was about the size of my head, and despite your warning I didn’t move to the side to evade it.” That had sent him faceplanting onto a pile of snow, and Jun was certain he still had snowflakes in his hair despite the ski helmet taking most of the damage from earlier.  
  
“Well, from what I’ve known about you so far, Matsumoto-san, you can be quite stubborn.” The corner of Sho’s lips was twitching, and Jun jostled his shoulder.  
  
Sho laughed, and it didn’t take Jun long to join him. He found that it was easy to laugh along with Sho, that the sound of it was contagious enough that he’d end up doing it a few seconds after. Sho’s laugh was boisterous but every time he did it, he looked like he was truly amused, that he was having fun.  
  
It became too easy for Jun to do the same whenever Sho did it.  
  
“So if you are to evaluate your first skiing experience, what would it be?” Sho asked, clenching his hand to a fist, pretending it was a microphone. “Would you like to try it again sometime or did you have enough?”  
  
Jun hummed in consideration, Sho’s fist hovering close to his face as Sho awaited his response. “I think I’ll try snowboarding next time.”  
  
“You need good balance for that, though,” Sho informed him.  
  
Jun turned to him, his tongue against his cheek. “Are you saying I don’t have good balance, Sho-san?”  
  
“Nonsense, Matsumoto-san.” Sho shook his head, a sly smile playing on his lips. “You’ve been faceplanting on the snow for most of our skiing session so really, what gave you that idea?”  
  
Jun laughed a little, punching Sho playfully on the arm. “What happened to the Sakurai-sensei that was full of encouragement for me earlier? Who replaced him?”  
  
“Ah, I’m afraid that once the goggles come off, Sakurai-sensei disappears,” Sho said, unable to keep his voice even.  
  
“The guy who snores so loud and is afraid of heights takes his place, huh?” Jun teased back, laughing when Sho made a face. “I should have taken a video. Your mouth was wide open and it would’ve made a good Vine.”  
  
It was Sho’s turn to elbow his side. “I’m not proud of it, you know.”  
  
“The fear of heights or the snoring?”  
  
Sho pouted, and Jun really liked how his plump bottom lip jutted out. “I’m buying a mouthpiece.”  
  
“Or,” Jun said, reaching out to poke at the earmuffs wrapped around Sho’s neck, “you can always lend me these.”  
  
Sho looked horrified. “I couldn’t be that loud.”  
  
Jun wanted to reach out and pat him on the head, but he refrained himself from doing so. “I’ll take a video tonight so you’ll know, okay?”  
  
Sho was still shaking his head adorably; the redness on his cheeks due to the cold and the embarrassment standing out because of the dark pea coat that he wore. “I’ll sleep outside then. So you can sleep on a futon.” Sho’s face turned serious abruptly, and Jun waited for what he had to say. “Why didn’t you just bring out your futon anyway? If I woke you up by snoring?”  
  
“I thought I could pass the time by enjoying the view at night, at least until you stopped snoring,” Jun reasoned. He then explained to Sho that it wasn’t his intention to fall asleep on the low table, but he underestimated the effect of sake from last night.  
  
“You could’ve woken me up,” Sho mumbled.  
  
“I’ll make sure to kick you out tonight, then,” Jun teased with a smile, and he chuckled at the sight of Sho’s face falling.  
  
They finished their coffee and rode a gondola downhill, and just when Jun thought that they were coming back to the onsen, Sho instead hailed a cab and told the driver to head for Togakushi Shrine.  
  
“Was the shrine in the itinerary Aiba-san prepared for you?” Sho asked curiously as the taxi drove away, leaving the ski resort behind.  
  
Jun hummed. “Along with a poor drawing of soba. Ayase-san from the inn told me that I should give them a try since they are a specialty.”  
  
Sho’s eyes narrowed fractionally. “Do you like soba, Matsumoto-san?”  
  
Somehow, Jun was reminded of the shellfish question he had asked Sho the night before. “Yes, I do.” It was a known fact among his friends, that while he enjoyed cooking Italian dishes, soba ranked high as one of his favorite foods. There had been a time when he would eat nothing but soba, at least until he’d finally learned how to cook properly.  
  
“In the same way I like shellfish?” Sho asked with a tiny smile.  
  
Jun could recall how Sho had looked at the ark shell as if it held all the secrets of the universe. It made him laugh a bit. “Not to that extent, but I like it, yes.”  
  
Sho nodded, leaning back against the seat. “We’re definitely trying out all the soba places.”  
  
“All of them?” Jun repeated. He wasn’t sure his stomach would be able to keep up with Sho’s. Sho was a big eater, something Jun had seen proof of during the meals they shared together.  
  
“We can go to the top three if we can’t really visit them all. There’s always the rest of the week,” Sho amended, but he still looked hopeful and somehow, Jun didn’t want to crush his feelings. Sho was passionate about many things—his job, his schedules, skiing—but eating was, so far according to Jun’s observations, the activity he poured all of his heart into.  
  
Jun looked out the windows, admiring the whiteness of the mountains that was a contrast to the sky’s blue hue. It was past midday, and he found that he could agree to wherever Sho wanted to go. “Yes. I suppose we can do that.”  
  
They arrived at the shrine without talking much, though Sho had a few complaints about the flight of stairs that they had to climb. Something about how exhausting it was, how his feet were rebelling against him, his face scrunching with every step he took when they reached considerable height. Jun couldn’t help laughing at him and teasing him for being such an old man.  
  
Sho teased him back just as much, never letting him forget what happened in the ski resort earlier. It made their trek to the shrine easier, more lighthearted since they continued with their jabs at one another.  
  
The path to the shrine was lined with tall trees of an ancient forest, a place Jun imagined to be as equally beautiful as it was now had it not been winter. The undisturbed piles of snow surrounding them and the footprints they left on the road added to the feeling of them visiting a sanctuary, to the thrill as they walked to the shrine on foot. Since Jun had brought his camera, he made sure to take photos for Aiba, not really sure what Aiba would like to see but wanting to come back with something to show.  
  
They arrived at the shrine without much happening, and he and Sho paid their respects, drinking in the energy that the place supposedly emitted; Jun had heard enough myths about the place from his mother and in class when he’d had attention to spare, though he didn’t really imagine he’d draw on the knowledge with someone like Sho by his side.  
  
Jun could tell Sho was itching to talk about the area so he indulged his companion as they made the journey back. Sho was a walking encyclopedia, talking about myths and legends that Jun only vaguely remembered. Looking at Sho, listening to him, Jun saw how much he loved his job and how seriously he took it. Sho may not have been assigned to Nagano before, but Jun was sure that no matter where his company relocated him to, he would do a good job.  
  
“Shall we go find the number one soba place in Togakushi according to Japan Travel?” Sho asked when they reached the village, the other side of Togakushi that they’d decided to walk through so they could explore the area.  
  
“You’re the tour guide,” Jun told him. “I’m the inexperienced traveler here.”  
  
“Japan Travel said that if you liked soba, you should definitely visit this place.”  
  
Jun thought it would be educational to visit such a place, for him and for Sho. Sho must have been relying on travel and food blogs if he didn’t have the time to check it out myself—much like Jun was. “Then take me there so I can decide for myself if Japan Travel is a reliable source.”  
  
Sho took him to a place called Uzuraya, a restaurant located next to the Chusha Shrine, with a tall cedar tree standing by its side. When Jun checked the paper with Aiba’s handwriting on it, he smiled when Aiba had also made a list of the well-known soba shops. Uzuraya was marked with ‘#1 so you better check this out!!!’ in big, underlined characters.  
  
“Can I get an unbiased review from you about this place, Matsumoto-san?” Sho asked as soon as they finished putting in their orders. “If ever I get assigned to Nagano and tourists ask me regarding this place, it would help if I can tell them about a soba lover’s opinion.”  
  
“You haven’t been assigned here yet and you’re already thinking that far?” Jun asked, marveling at how thorough Sho was. “Fine. If I end up loving it, you’re going to know.”  
  
“How many ‘Matsu’ is Matsumoto-san going to give it? Please stay tuned!” Sho said theatrically, and Jun shook his head, smiling at his silliness.  
  
“This isn’t _Chubaw desu yo!_ , Sho-san.”  
  
They shared one look, and blurted out “Matsumoto desu yo!” at the same time, the both of them laughing after.  
  
Sho pulled out his camcorder then, still shaking his head in amusement. “I have to remember this. This place, how many ‘Matsu’ you’re going to give it.” He asked a staff if he could take a video and some photos of the place for his personal use and gave her a thankful bow when she told them it was all right to do so.  
  
“Here we await the opinion of our food gourmet, Matsumoto Jun-san!” Sho said in a perfectly passable variety show host voice, lifting his camcorder to film Jun.  
  
“I’m a food gourmet now?” Jun asked with a smile.  
  
“We’ll see how many ‘Matsu’ is Matsumoto Jun going to give it! Again, we’re in Uzuraya, the home of soba!”  
  
Jun simply shook his head, unable to keep himself from adoring Sho’s silliness. Jun didn’t think he was when they’d first met, but here they were, sitting in a shop with more than a hundred year-old history, mocking a popular variety show since they had nothing better to do.  
  
“I should start a food blog if this pays off,” Jun stated, his chin resting against the back of his hand.  
  
“I’ll provide you with the photos then,” Sho offered with another of his boyish, toothy grins that Jun was getting used to seeing. “If we find a restaurant that’s not suitable to your palate we’ll tell the internet that it’s getting no ‘Matsu’.”  
  
Jun was certain that had he and Sho been bloggers, they wouldn’t have much of a future. From the look in Sho’s eyes Jun could tell that he was thinking of the same thing. “We’re going to become vagrants by the end of the month.”  
  
“All because we weren’t generous with our ratings,” Sho added with a laugh.  
  
Their food arrived then, and Jun sat back and watched how Sho filmed it with camcorder, even giving this lengthy introduction about the food and what it could possibly taste.  
  
“We won’t know if we don’t eat now though,” Jun interjected, and Sho turned the camera to him.  
  
“The food gourmet is now complaining, ladies and gentlemen. It might be wise not to raise his ire; he might have no ‘Matsu’s to give if that should happen.”  
  
Jun shook his head, letting out a chuckle. “Shut up and eat with me, will you?”  
  
“Fine, fine. Just one photo.” Sho then took his camera phone out and Jun only stared as Sho took a selfie with his tempura soba. Sho had never done that in the onsen before.  
  
“We’re in a place with history,” Sho explained later, the tips of his ears reddening. “Who knows when I’ll get to try this out again?”  
  
“You should have taken one with the shellfish from last night,” Jun said, splitting his chopsticks and rubbing them together. “Nino would probably never serve us something like that again.”  
  
“Ah, but I didn’t want to scare you away,” Sho admitted, shutting off his camcorder.  
  
Jun scoffed. “You snored like a boar last night and all it did was make me move to the table. Selfies wouldn’t scare me.”  
  
“I’m lending you the earmuffs, all right?” Sho said, his face a mixture of slight annoyance and embarrassment that Jun found to be endearing. “And I’m definitely buying a mouthpiece.”  
  
“You said that earlier,” Jun reminded him. “Come on, the food’s waiting. Don’t you want to know what I think of it?”  
  
Sho repeated his theatric question of what would be Jun’s rating for the soba, even asking their imaginary audience to not switch channels.  
  
“We’ll be partaking,” Sho finished with a bow before digging in in the usual Sho way of eating. Jun now understood why Sho had asked for his unbiased opinion; Sho could probably eat anything and sing it praises no matter what kind of food it was. He wasn’t just a big eater. He really loved eating and relished every moment of it.  
  
In between slurps and Sho’s repetitive expressions of “This is so good!” “This is amazing!” “I’m totally going back for this!”, Jun thought that if he was going to spend the rest of the week in the same manner, he really wouldn’t mind. Even if he came to Hakuba on a whim and with zero enthusiasm, seeing Sho eat with gusto, hearing him make silly jokes and recite Olympic points out of his memory, he thought maybe Nino had been right.  
  
There was a first time for everything, and while that included Jun’s embarrassing ski session, the fact that it didn’t scare Sho away or made him doubt Jun’s sincerity the night before was a good sign.  
  
Hakuba was many things, Jun realized, while pondering on how many ‘Matsu’s he could give this tempura soba. Initially unwanted because Jun didn’t need the vacation and hadn’t been looking forward to it, but then there was Sho who snored and was quick to feel embarrassed because of it, but always eager to return Jun’s harmless teasing.  
  
Now Jun was looking forward to the upcoming days, to more time spent in Sho’s company. He wondered whether his feelings went beyond friendship and if it was too fast to feel this way, but Jun had always gone with his feelings and let them dictate most of his actions.  
  
And this, this ‘stuffing their faces with soba’ session with his roommate slash ski tutor slash personal tour guide, it felt right. Comfortable even, despite Sho having bloated cheeks and getting soup splatters on his coat because he couldn’t wait to try whatever was on their table.  
  
Jun laughed at Sho, at his stuffed face and reddening cheeks and silly, silly self and thought that maybe Aiba had known exactly what he was doing.  
  
\--  
  
Jun had ended up giving the tempura soba five ‘Matsu’s and Sho made sure he had gotten it recorded along with Jun saying “Matsumoto desu yo!” in a ridiculous voice.  
  
They had returned to the onsen just in time for dinner, and unlike yesterday night, Sho’s limbs and ankles weren’t aching much given that he wasn’t able to ski that much.  
  
Sho of yesterday would treat that as a bad thing, but today, Sho didn’t mind. He’d gotten to laugh at Jun’s ineptitude and even convinced him to join in his ridiculousness. The Jun he met yesterday morning didn’t seem like someone who’d be open to such silliness, but Sho was pleased about the surprise.  
  
Ayase-san, or Haruka-chan according to Nino, helped Nino serve their dinner, which consisted of healthful servings of matsutake rice and chicken katsu. Beef and vegetable stew served as the side dish, and since Sho and Jun had gone out exploring the ninja village after leaving Uzuraya, they happily dug in.  
  
“You ever tried the onsen?” Sho asked in the middle of their meal, just as Jun was sipping his hot sake. “We’re staying in an inn that has various pools, but I never really tried.” He laughed. “I wonder when will I.”  
  
“No,” Jun answered, licking his lips to savor the taste. “Nino gave me a tour the other day so I know what kinds of pools he has here, but I never tried. I think I should before the week ends.”  
  
“You think?” Sho repeated, and together they laughed. “You’re in an onsen, Matsumoto-kun. You should definitely do more than just try.”  
  
Jun had removed his contacts and was wearing glasses again. He had to push them up his nose before he picked up his chopsticks and bowl of matsutake rice. “I want to do it as a reward. You know, when I’ve pretty much covered most of what’s in Aiba-kun’s itinerary for me.”  
  
Sho’s plans in his phone listed that he should go to Obuse and Zenkoji Temple tomorrow. He swallowed before talking, hoping Jun wouldn’t find him presumptuous for what he was going to say. “I’m going to visit the temple tomorrow and Obuse to buy sake as a souvenir.”  
  
In truth, Sho wanted to ask if Jun would be amenable to coming with him. But he’d only known Jun for two days and didn’t really know the right words to say. It was easy when they were laughing about their incompetencies, about variety shows. But he didn’t know what Jun thought of today, if he honestly enjoyed himself or was simply indulging Sho.  
  
Jun was looking at him with his rice bowl covering half of his face and Sho didn’t know what to expect.  
  
Jun stroked the tip of his nose with his thumb. “I think I should buy sake for my dad. He’d probably like that.”  
  
“Do you,” Sho tried, feeling as if his throat had dried up. He didn’t understand why inviting Jun was making him really nervous. Okay, he knew. Jun was good-looking, and he was definitely Sho’s type—cool, confident demeanor on the outside but a little dorky on the inside.  
  
“Do you want to buy together?” Sho finished, evening out his tone. “I mean, I’d probably ask for a free taste if they offer it, but I don’t really know much about sake aside from what I like, and I don’t need to be drunk on samples when the sun’s still up…” He trailed off, realizing that he had been babbling awkwardly.  
  
“Sho-san,” Jun said, looking at him with an amused expression, “yes, I want to. I think that’ll be great, actually.”  
  
“Oh,” Sho mumbled, feeling extremely relieved. But then he remembered. “But I’m going to the temple too so…”  
  
Jun cut him off. “I’d like to come with you, if you don’t mind.” When Sho looked at him, he poked at the rice in his bowl using his chopsticks. “Aiba-kun had the temple in his list as well and I’d also like to take photos of it for him.”  
  
“Of course,” Sho said quickly, nodding. “Shall we set a time then? After dinner?”  
  
That made Jun smile. “After dinner.”  
  
They ate in silence, with Sho not knowing what to say next despite making the invitation and Jun busying himself with eating. Sho prided himself with being a good conversant, always managing to read the situation and know the right words to keep the mood lighthearted and the conversation going.  
  
But with Jun, Sho quickly realized that when they weren’t on a famous tourist spot or eating a five-star (according to Jun) soba, he ran out of things to say. He wanted to talk about so many things, to ask Jun how was today’s sightseeing and skiing experience, to know more about his travel agent roommate who was rediscovering Japan on his co-worker’s insistence, but these things feel like they wanted to burst forth from his mouth all at the same time.  
  
So Sho settled with keeping his mouth shut, instead enjoying the chicken katsu and hoping that the crunches his mouth made as he chewed could mask his raging heartbeat.  
  
“I had fun today,” Jun suddenly muttered, a little quiet since he had his lips around a glass of water. “Even if I faceplanted on the snow countless times and couldn’t ski at all.”  
  
“You were an interesting student,” Sho commented, smiling a little. “I had fun too. Even if all I did on the way to the shrine was complain.”  
  
“And I thought I was the grouchy one,” Jun said, making him laugh. Jun’s face broke into a smile too, and Sho had to look away because he felt that he was getting more and more used to the idea of making Jun laugh.  
  
“I hope you won’t be grouchy tomorrow morning,” Sho told him before helping himself to another piece of katsu.  
  
“I’m weak in the mornings so I can’t promise anything,” Jun admitted with a sheepish smile.  
  
Sho shrugged his shoulders. “I’m weak against heights, as you’ve seen.”  
  
“Your face was so pale; how could I forget?” The teasing tone was back, and this, Sho thought, this he knew his way around. Better this than Jun’s shy smiles and sincere eyes.  
  
“Your face turned absolutely white when, oh, that’s right, when you mashed your face against the snow,” Sho answered, suppressing the urge to grin when Jun had his tongue against his cheek. “Matsumoto snowman.”  
  
Jun had an eyebrow raised, but the corner of his lips was twitching so Sho knew he was in safe territory. “Don’t make the mistake of snoring tonight, Sho-san, or you’re going to wake up to a Vine having a thousand loops in one night.”  
  
Sho cockily reached inside his pants pocket, fishing out an item still wrapped in convenience store plastic. “Got a mouthpiece while we were in the ninja village and you called for a taxi.” He grinned when Jun’s eyes narrowed; Jun didn’t even notice he’d left, then.  
  
“Good, because my alternative tonight is smothering you with a pillow.” Jun met his eyes, and Sho couldn’t hold back his chuckles anymore so he gave in, not the slightest bit surprised when Jun’s shoulders shook and he let out a laugh of his own.  
  
Later in the evening Jun ordered two cans of Kirin for them to enjoy as they took a seat on the porch outside to watch the stars.  
  
“Did you know that Nino wanted to become an idol?” Jun asked him suddenly.  
  
Sho never imagined that someone like Nino, who looked like he couldn’t be bothered to move a muscle for dancing, would have that kind of childhood dream. “You’re not serious?”  
  
Jun only nodded. “Told me he and Aiba-kun thought about it when they were younger. Isn’t that interesting? That Nino is now an onsen owner and Aiba-kun is my colleague? I wonder what would have happened had they submitted their résumé to Johnny’s.”  
  
“Well, no one would give us that expensive shellfish dinner last night, that’s for sure.” Sho leaned back, keeping his eyes on the inky black sky dotted with twinkling stars. “What was your childhood dream?”  
  
“Be a professional baseball player,” Jun answered quickly. “You?”  
  
“Soccer player. I used to think about having a match in Barcelona with the people cheering ‘Sakurai! Sakurai!’ every time I go for the ball.”  
  
“You can always go to Barcelona, though I think the ‘cheering for Sakurai’ bit in your dream can never really happen.”  
  
Sho laughed at that. “I’m not a big fan of baseball but let me guess. You’re a pitcher?”  
  
Jun smiled, one of his toothy grins that reached his eyes. “Catcher. I was pretty decent at it in grade school, though we have a baseball team at the company with Aiba-kun as the founder and captain. I participate sometimes.”  
  
“Only sometimes?” Sho asked. Jun sounded like he really adored baseball when he talked about it.  
  
Jun nodded, even hummed. “One of my colleagues is into futsal now and he has successfully convinced me to give that a shot. But even that I can’t do much.” He offered Sho a brief grin. “Work, as you probably have guessed. I rarely get free time.”  
  
“Except now.”  
  
Jun tilted his head in acknowledgement. “Except now. With our company’s baseball captain’s interference at that.” Jun picked up his can of beer, taking a lengthy sip. “You? You played soccer lately?”  
  
Sho shook his head. “Though I kind of want to try futsal.”  
  
“I think you’d be great at it, if you’re good at soccer.” Jun turned to him, and in the darkness, Sho couldn’t see the color of his eyes. “Are you good at soccer, Sho-san?”  
  
There was this challenge to Jun’s tone, and Sho couldn’t back down. “Probably even better than you, Matsumoto-san.”  
  
Jun grinned, lifting the Kirin to his lips. “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it.”  
  
“I’ll prove it to you now, but I don’t think Nino has a soccer ball anywhere.”  
  
“Nino doesn’t look like he’s doing any sports at all so no, I don’t think so too.”  
  
They laughed at that, Sho with his boisterous guffaws and Jun with his giggles. When Sho recovered from his amusement, he turned to Jun. “You said Nino wanted to become an idol.”  
  
“Told me he can do backflips so dancing and singing would be no problem. That had he applied for it, he would have been super popular now, girls all over the country adoring him and holding his uchiwa.”  
  
Sho could imagine it, the smirking face of Nino printed on concert goods. “I wish I had that kind of outrageous dream.”  
  
Jun faced him, brows furrowing. “What, becoming an idol? You?”  
  
“Why? You don’t think I can do it?” Sho was a little offended.  
  
Jun shook his head in dismissal. “No, no, that’s not it. But you recite Olympic points off the top of your head, Sho-san. That’s not a talent. Had you auditioned, they’d be looking for someone who can sing and dance.”  
  
Sho chose not to tell Jun that he wasn’t the most flexible of people. “I’d be as popular as Nino would have been, hands down. And I can totally sing and dance.”  
  
“What’s your best song in karaoke?” Jun challenged, mouth quirking up.  
  
“For your information, I can rap, Matsumoto,” Sho shot back, and somehow that really amused Jun, who had to turn to his side as his body quaked in laughter.  
  
“Like Eminem?”  
  
Sho scrunched his nose. “Nothing that graphic.”  
  
“I thought you’d be the guy who just holds the tambourine and puts in the order during karaoke,” Jun said, wiping the corner of his eye with his thumb. It must be the alcohol that made him less composed, Sho figured. He and Jun had been drinking hot sake earlier, and now Kirin.  
  
“Hey, I can totally sing,” Sho grumbled, trying to nurse his wounded ego.  
  
“Let me hear it sometime,” Jun said sincerely. “Your rapping.”  
  
“Okay,” Sho replied. Could he say anything else? “Okay.”  
  
When Jun flashed him a smile, he knew.  
  
It would be impossible to refuse Jun.


	3. Chapter 3

Jun woke to the sound of his alarm, his phone ringing incessantly under his pillow. He groaned, fumbling around to turn it off, and when he succeeded, he buried his face on his pillow.  
  
He only turned his head a little when he heard hushed conversation, and he saw that Sho’s futon was already made. He could make out Sho’s and Nino’s voices outside, and a third one he recognized as Ohno-san.  
  
Nino must be introducing Ohno to Sho.  
  
He sat up groggily, one eye open as he looked around for his glasses. The mouthpiece that Sho had proudly shown him during dinner actually helped; his roommate’s snoring was suppressed to the point that he’d managed to sleep through it with little trouble.  
  
Sunlight was creeping out of the doors left slightly ajar as Jun stretched and cracked his neck joints. He ran a hand through his hair as he yawned, torn between disappearing under the covers and getting up.  
  
“Oh, you’re up,” a voice said in the doorway, and Jun blinked at Sho’s face. “Perfect timing. I invited Nino, Ohno-san, and Haruka-san to have breakfast with us.”  
  
“Good morning to you too,” Jun said, unable to suppress another yawn.  
  
Sho seemed startled at having forgotten the greeting, hurriedly saying it back. “Good morning. Did you get enough rest?” he asked uncertainly, his eyes staring at the tatami under his feet.  
  
“You didn’t find me on the table this time,” Jun told him.  
  
Sho looked up, tilting his head. “Guess the mouthpiece worked.”  
  
Whatever Jun was about to say was interrupted by the sound of Nino announcing his arrival followed by series of footsteps. Sho hurriedly rushed to usher them in, and Jun took a moment to stretch his legs before emerging from the sleeping quarters.  
  
Nino had this weird smile on his face at the sight of him so Jun waited for whatever unkind thing he was going to say. Maybe something about his bed hair?  
  
Instead Nino said nothing, reaching out to help Haruka and Ohno with the additional low table. They then set the trays for breakfast (miso soup, croquettes, and white rice with furikake) neatly while Haruka poured barley tea for everyone.  
  
“Sho-kun kindly invited us,” Ohno said, addressing him. “I hope you don’t mind.”  
  
Jun didn’t really. Sho needed someone he could animatedly speak to during the mornings because Jun wasn’t at his peak condition yet during such time. “I don’t.”  
  
“He doesn’t,” Nino added with a knowing grin. “If we didn’t come he wouldn’t have woken up.” Nino leaned across the table, already picking the spot across Jun. “Aiba-shi told me it takes a while for you to become the Jun-kun that we’re all used to, that you need at least two cups of coffee for that to happen.”  
  
“You’re not cute,” Jun said instead, not buying whatever Nino was saying.  
  
Ohno was just taking a seat on Nino’s right as he laughed, and somehow, that caused Nino to turn on him. “Why are you on his side when I’m the one who’s paying you?”  
  
“It’s very rare I get to see someone who’s not Haruka-chan telling you to shut it,” Ohno reasoned, huffs of laughter escaping his lips.  
  
“Oh save the teasing for later, Nino!” Haruka chided, elbowing Nino to move so she could squeeze herself beside him. “I helped Oh-chan make these so please, help yourselves.”  
  
“‘Helped’,” Nino echoed quietly, “more like Oh-chan made all of these and you just lingered unhelpfully.”  
  
That comment earned him an elbow jab to his ribs from Haruka, something Ohno only chuckled at.  
  
“Miso soup’s my specialty, you know,” Haruka retorted, shooting Jun an apologetic smile. “Please help yourselves.”  
  
Jun looked up just in time to hear Sho’s mumbled “Excuse me” before Sho took a seat beside him, and he scooted a little to his left to make room for him.  
  
They said their graces at the same time and Jun waited until everybody had their meals sorted before asking, “Who’s manning the front desk?”  
  
“Nobody,” Nino said around a mouthful of croquette. “They can give us break.”  
  
“They?” Sho asked beside him. “You mean the famous person and her friends?”  
  
“Oh they just wouldn’t settle down last night,” Haruka complained, covering her mouth as she talked. “They keep asking for drinks and sashimi and wet towels.”  
  
Ohno stroked his forearms with that comment. “I’ve never cut so many tunas in my life.”  
  
“They’re a rowdy bunch,” Nino finished, taking a sip of his tea. “You never met them?”  
  
Jun noticed that Nino had addressed both him and Sho. “No,” Jun answered, tilting his head towards Sho. “Sho-san didn’t, either.”  
  
“Ah, so you still don’t know who she is,” Nino said. The smug grin was back. “Some of our guests already met her and asked for selfies and autographs. She was actually generous when it came to that.”  
  
“But she parties hard?” Sho confirmed, earning a soft chuckle from Ohno.  
  
“She parties really hard, yeah,” Nino agreed with a nod.  
  
Haruka lightly slapped him on the arm. “Is it all right to complain about our other guests in front of our guests?”  
  
“I was wondering about that too,” Ohno added, hiding half of his face behind a bowl of miso.  
  
“It’s Jun-kun and Sho-chan. Who are they going to tell? It’s not like I spilled some state secrets here. I just said she parties hard, and that’s something those reading the tabloids already knew. Besides, she’s in that time of her life.” Nino’s lips twitched. “It’s going to be fine. Jun-kun won’t tell anyone else other than Aiba-shi, maybe, and Sho-chan…” Nino blinked before leaning forward, his eyes fixed on Sho. “Who are you going to tell, Sho-chan?”  
  
“Depends on how famous she is,” Sho answered smoothly, and Ohno laughed again.  
  
“There’s nothing wrong about partying hard,” Jun told them, remembering himself in his college days. “If she has the money and has the time and isn’t really disturbing the other guests.”  
  
“Who is the onsen owner here?” Nino asked, making Haruka giggle. “Can you believe what he said? He sounded like the innkeeper for a moment there. Want to stay here in Nagano, Jun-kun? I could use an assistant.”  
  
“Shove it,” Jun said, biting into another croquette. They were damn good, and Jun could tell they were handmade. Ohno was a man with many talents.  
  
“What about you, Sho-chan? Want to be my assistant?” Nino turned to Sho jokingly. “If not my assistant then a kitchen help. Oh-chan could use it.”  
  
“I could,” Ohno confirmed.  
  
Sho shook his head. “I’ve never held a kitchen knife before.”  
  
Jun’s eyes widened, turning to look at Sho slowly. “Never? Not even once?”  
  
Sho shook his head again. “No.”  
  
“What do you eat? Takeout ramen? Delivered soba? Supermarket shellfish?” Jun couldn’t believe it. He and Sho were close in age and Jun could fix a decent meal for himself. Surely a grown man like Sho was exaggerating.  
  
But Sho didn’t look like he was. “I have pizza delivered sometimes.”  
  
“I can teach you how to cut sashimi,” Ohno suddenly offered as he slurped his miso.  
  
Nino flicked Ohno’s temple with his finger. “He lives in the city. You think he has time to prepare sashimi when he could buy prepared ones from the supermarket?”  
  
“Ah, I suppose not,” Ohno muttered with a nod.  
  
“Don’t worry, Sakurai-san,” Haruka said, her smile encouraging. “I can only make miso soup, and for that I still need Oh-chan’s help.”  
  
“You cook though, don’t you?” Nino asked, looking straight at Jun. “What was it, pasta? Italian?”  
  
Jun allowed himself a small smile. “I’m surprised you remembered, Nino. But yes, Italian when I have the time. Usually pasta, but I can prepare Japanese food too, no problem.”  
  
Nino pointed at him but looked at Sho. “There’s your tutor, Sho-chan. I’m afraid all Ohno-san can teach you is how to serenade a tuna before cutting it nicely. But this one,” Nino said, pointing repeatedly at him, “can teach you how to cook for yourself.”  
  
“Hey, I’m your cook,” Ohno retorted.  
  
Nino made a face at Ohno. “Yeah, but you work better when no one’s talking to you. You can’t teach someone without talking.”  
  
Jun turned to face Sho, seeing his cheeks slightly flushed. “You never really touched a knife?”  
  
“No.” Sho wouldn’t look at him, his eyes fixed on his bowls of miso and rice.  
  
“I suppose I can teach you a thing or two,” Jun offered, and when Sho looked at him, he smiled. “Provided you show me that you can really rap.”  
  
That seemed to make Sho feel better; his boyish grin was back and there was a hint of challenge in his eyes. “I’ll hold you to that, only because I’m confident I can blow you away with only a few lyrics.”  
  
“We should go to karaoke sometime,” Ohno said, earning Nino’s and Haruka’s agreement. “Ah but we don’t get day-offs since owner-san here is always after the money. Haruka-chan and I, we’re overworked here.”  
  
Nino slapped him on the arm for that comment. “What the hell are you talking about?”  
  
“It’s not really the model and her friends that wear me out,” Haruka said, a mischievous smile on her pretty face, “it’s Nino, now that I think about it. Right, Oh-chan?”  
  
Ohno and Haruka nodded at the same time, with Nino between them looking so betrayed and that was enough to make Jun and Sho laugh, the four of them having good fun at Nino’s expense.  
  
“I can’t believe I’m paying these people to gang up on me like this,” Nino mumbled, his face in his hands. “No wonder Aiba-shi liked you two when he met you. He must’ve known, that jerk.”  
  
“Come to Tokyo then,” Jun offered, looking at the three people seated across him. “When it’s not peak season anymore and you guys can take a break. We’ll go to karaoke with Aiba-kun.”  
  
“Then Sho-kun can show us his rapping skills,” Ohno said enthusiastically.  
  
“Then we can all decide if he’s good enough, yes? Give us a day-off after winter season, owner-san!” Haruka even elbowed Nino on the side, enough to make Nino click his tongue at their antics.  
  
“Fine. One night. We go to Tokyo one night!” Nino pointed at Sho. “Your rapping better be worth the trip, Sho-chan.”  
  
Sho only smiled enigmatically, raising his teacup in mock toast.  
  
“So that’s settled then,” Ohno said, smiling brightly. “One night in Tokyo, the five of us here plus Aiba-chan.” Ohno nodded to himself. “That’s something to look forward to.”  
  
Jun couldn’t agree more.  
  
\--  
  
It was nearly lunch when Sho arrived at Zenkoji Temple with Jun, and after a brief tour around the grounds (the snow was getting thicker and harder to walk onto even with their winter boots), they decided to head for Obuse to pick the proper sake souvenir.  
  
Sho could hear Jun muttering names under his breath as he talked to himself. He could pick out a few names as Jun looked at the choices available to them. There was someone named Toma-kun, another called Shun-kun, one Mao-chan, and another Jun referred to as Namino.  
  
Of course there was also Jun’s father on his list of people to buy sake for, but as they strolled around the streets, perusing shop after shop, Sho realized that Jun was the type who would look at everything first before evaluating his options.  
  
Sho had no complaints though. He was seeing that Jun’s dedication extended to nearly every aspect of his personality, that he would painstakingly try to find that perfect sake he could bring home to his friends and family, even if it would take him hours to locate it.  
  
Jun had asked shop owners again and again about their recommendations, and he pondered over their suggestions afterwards as he walked the streets with Sho by his side. Sho wasn’t looking for a particular flavor or brand, but seeing how seriously Jun took this task of buying souvenirs made him want to keep up with Jun’s perseverance.  
  
In the end, they must have sampled a minimum of five sakes from each store before Jun managed to buy bottles for his friends and his father. Sho was only thinking of his friend Tsumabuki to give sake to, but he ended up purchasing one for his sister and another for his dad too.  
  
They found a soba place almost an hour after the sun had set, and the two of them kept a lighthearted conversation about their favorites, from their food preferences to their music tastes. Jun told him about his trips overseas that coincided with Broadway premieres, and Sho offered information about himself in equal measure. He admitted adoring trashy American music in his youth and that he played the piano when he had the time, though nowadays he could only play a few pieces by memory and mostly improvised.  
  
It had been a long time since he sat on a piano bench—the last time had been for a friend’s wedding in Paris, almost three years ago—but he would like to brush up his skills if he could.  
  
“Do you have any piece that you like?” Sho asked while drinking chilled beer. They were still in the soba place and would likely remain there until their bodies wished for sleep.  
  
Jun considered the question, a thoughtful look on his handsome face. “I like the one I often hear during Christmas. Whenever I go to Omotesando, I surely hear that one.”  
  
“Ah,” Sho said, understanding, “Canon, right?” He hummed the popular scale and Jun nodded repeatedly.  
  
“That’s the one!” Jun slammed his hand down the table in excitement.  
  
Sho then relayed stories of his piano-playing to Jun, about his strict tutor who’d always slapped his hands when they weren’t in the proper position, about the classical and contemporary pieces he had spent hours memorizing only to forget years later.  
  
“You play any instrument, Matsumoto-kun?” Sho asked.  
  
“I want to, but—”  
  
“You don’t really have the time,” Sho finished for him.  
  
Jun only nodded, a sad smile on his face. “What a boring reason right? Other people would mention other hobbies as their reason why they don’t play, but me, I only have work to name.”  
  
“I don’t play as often as I should because of work,” Sho said. “I’d spend my days reading guidebooks and brushing up my English instead of looking at pieces I knew by heart when I was a kid. The last time I had time to myself like this, I used it to act as the unofficial tour guide of my cousin who came home from California. So really, I think you and I are the same when it comes to work.”  
  
“Two workaholic people whose break only happened in Hakuba?” Jun asked, laughing. “That doesn’t sound too bad. But it makes us sound like robots.”  
  
Sho looked at Jun, remembering Jun’s story on how he got into this trip in Hakuba. “I’m not ‘Employee of the Month’ though.”  
  
Jun shook his head, raising his finger in front of him. “I wouldn’t be able to drink sake this much had I not been ‘Employee of the Month’. I wouldn’t get to eat that much good soba in two days nor have these really good onsen package meals every day. So I see it as a good thing, Sho-san.”  
  
“I suppose you’re right,” Sho muttered in agreement.  
  
After all, if Jun hadn’t been ‘Employee of the Month’, Sho wouldn’t have met him.  
  
\--  
  
He and Sho had decided to visit Matsumoto Castle the following day, only because Sho had been so insistent in the soba shop the night before, telling Jun over and over that he had to go because he was a Matsumoto.  
  
It was the one place in Jun’s itinerary that Aiba had marked with a huge red asterisk and encircled repeatedly, and Jun didn’t really want to waste Aiba’s effort in preparing everything for him in this trip so he agreed. He was able to take photos of the other places in Aiba’s prepared itinerary, but Jun knew that the castle would be the number one place Aiba would want to see photos of.  
  
And knowing Aiba, he would want Jun to be in the shot too, just so he could say something as stupid and as predictable as “A Matsumoto in Matsumoto”.  
  
Jun let Sho lead the way after he was done taking photos for Aiba, allowing Sho to assume the tour guide persona he had during times like this. Jun was beginning to see Sho as his personal tour guide, albeit he was certain tour guides didn’t really wear glasses and bucket hats on top of their winter coats.  
  
Sho was wearing his camouflage bucket hat the wrong way; the brim was flipped upwards so he could see better. He looked goofy in his hat, but his eager smile made Jun curb his tongue.  
  
Sho was holding his trusty camcorder just like the day before, talking in that animated documentary style voice as he filmed everything he could see.  
  
“Before us stands Matsumoto Castle, also known as the Crow Castle because of its dark exterior.” Sho’s camera panned to him, and Jun gave it a questioning look. “And this here is Matsumoto Jun-san, a Matsumoto in Matsumoto in Matsumoto, Nagano. Matsumoto-ception!”  
  
Sho had this huge grin under his hat, obviously amused at his own joke. “Say hi,” Sho mouthed, and Jun only blinked at him.  
  
Sho repeated what he said, and Jun pretended not to understand. Sho pouted before turning the camera to himself and saying with a whiny tone that “Matsumoto-kun wouldn’t give us a wave despite being the only Matsumoto in Matsumoto Castle in Matsumoto.”  
  
Jun sighed and without thinking, grabbed Sho’s wrist to turn the camera towards his own face. “This is Matsumoto,” he said, finally doing what Sho had been asking for and giving a tiny wave. He hurriedly let Sho go after, belatedly realizing that he’d just been holding on to Sho.  
  
Sho beamed, looking terribly pleased with himself. “We got a wave! Now, let’s see what else we can get from Matsumoto-san as this journey goes on!”  
  
Sho blabbed on, oblivious to what had just happened. He continued spouting information after another regarding the castle, about its history beginning from its structure to its restoration. He was definitely more interested about the exterior of the castle and the campaign to save it than Jun was.  
  
And Sho was definitely more interested in the Matsumoto that stood towering before him than the Matsumoto standing behind him, Jun thought.  
  
He settled for watching Sho as he walked around to capture different parts of the castle’s well-maintained exterior with his camera. Sho was a few millimeters shorter than him, and with the castle’s keep serving as a background, he looked smaller in Jun’s eyes. Sho was wearing this backpack which front straps were also fastened, and Jun could remember laughing so much when Sho had explained that it was because he had sloping shoulders and they would slip if he didn’t fasten them.  
  
While Jun had broad shoulders, Sho had angular ones that weren’t really obvious under his jacket, but every time he would remove it back in the room they shared, Jun would notice how different Sho’s body built was from his despite the two of them being of similar height.  
  
The pants Sho was wearing made him look like he had short legs, though that was likely caused by his boots that reached up his shins. Although, Jun wouldn’t deny that the pair fit him rather nicely, considering the way the material hugged his butt. With Sho busily filming the castle like a reporter on site, Jun allowed himself to appreciate the curve of Sho’s ass in those tight jeans.  
  
Jun had worn one of the fedoras he’d packed and foregone the contacts this time since he wouldn’t really be moving that much aside from walking. He wore a trench coat, protecting his neck by wrapping one of his scarves around it. He had his hands tucked inside his pockets as he stayed back and watched Sho walking back and forth, his occasional “oh, this is amazing!” making Jun smile every now and then.  
  
His fashion sense greatly differed from Sho’s, and yet, no matter how unfashionable Sho looked, Jun couldn’t help observing him. He’d only known Sho for three days, and yet, in those three days, Jun felt like he knew a lot about him already.  
  
He knew that Sho had this band in his youth called Zeus, that he used to play the guitar for that band aside from knowing how to play piano. He knew that Sho acquired an economics degree only to become a tour guide, because what he really wanted to do was to travel around the country (or the world if ever) and not analyze what contributed to the Japanese GNP.  
  
Sho was a big eater who took selfies with his food ever since their trip to Togakushi. He wanted to be a soccer player in his youth. He had acrophobia. He liked Lady Gaga and would love to see her in a concert at least once. He would read newspapers every morning because he believed there was always something new to discover, to learn more about.  
  
He was well-informed yet easy to embarrass and was prone to laughter. He was passionate about learning and would always like to share, and Jun thought it was such a shame that people couldn’t really see that side of him when they look at him, dressed shabbily in a winter jacket and a bucket hat.  
  
“What’s wrong?” he heard Sho suddenly ask, and Jun had to blink at him. How long had he been staring at Sho? Long enough for Sho to notice and to wonder if something was on his face?  
  
“Nothing, what made you ask that?” Jun asked back, trying to maintain composure, hoping his hat could hide his cheeks heating up.  
  
“Well, I was asking if you’d like to go to someplace else or if you want to see what else Matsumoto has to offer.”  
  
“You’re the tour guide,” Jun said, tilting his chin towards Sho. “Shouldn’t you have this schedule planned, something we could follow?”  
  
Sho blushed at that, and Jun grinned. “Ah, the type who overschedules, huh, Sho-san? What else have you planned for us today?”  
  
“I was giving you an out if you wanted it,” Sho retorted.  
  
“Let’s do it,” Jun said, keeping his hands inside his pockets so he’d resist the temptation to tug at Sho’s sleeve. “Whatever you’ve got in your schedule. I don’t really know Nagano, being the normal person who wouldn’t look up that much before I visit a place, so just lead the way.”  
  
“It’s called smart traveling, Matsumoto-kun,” Sho told him in that slightly defensive tone that never failed to make Jun smile whenever he would tease Sho. “But since you agreed, we’re going to have a look around. But before that…”  
  
Sho trailed off, and Jun found himself being tugged at the sleeve, closer to the towering black keep. He could only watch as Sho pulled out his phone and asked him to say cheese, the castle serving as their background.  
  
He managed a small smile as Sho took the photo, and he tried to get past the sudden awkwardness brought about by their proximity by asking “Did you take that so you can say there are three Matsumotos in the photo?”  
  
There was a terse moment of silence before Sho mumbled a “yeah” that Jun shrugged to. He respectfully took a few steps away, maintaining the distance between him and Sho.  
  
Space was important, Jun realized. The longer the time he spent with Sho, the more he realized that Sho was beginning to become someone he was getting used to seeing, hearing, walking with, eating with, laughing with, having fun with. It was unsettling. He didn’t really think he’d find someone like Sho when he’d boarded the Azusa, and he was certain it wasn’t pre-planned by Aiba either. After all, Aiba didn’t know Sho and vice versa.  
  
But these past few days, spending time with his roommate for most hours of the day until night time, it made him uneasy. He was comfortable with Sho and he wasn’t forcing himself as he spent his time with the other man, but Jun wasn’t used to the idea of an instant connection, of being at ease with someone he’d only known for four days.  
  
Sho was a stranger, but he no longer felt like one. And frankly, that was what made Jun anxious, the fact that Sho had somehow managed to get past his defenses without him really noticing it. Sho with his unfashionable bucket hats and corny punchlines, his spirited laughter that got Jun every time, his eagerness to help Jun rediscover Japan.  
  
Jun was sure he wouldn’t enjoy Hakuba as much as he was now if he hadn’t met Sho, and the idea really terrified him. He didn’t even know what Sho thought of him aside from a roommate, a travel companion.  
  
But why would Sho take a selfie with him if he was nothing but a stranger? Did he take selfies with all of the people he’d guided whenever he was on tour? Jun was certain he didn’t. So Jun wasn’t just someone he was guiding. What was he then?  
  
Jun carried all these thoughts as he and Sho strolled around Matsumoto, sightseeing at first before Sho took them to the ukiyo-e museum that housed woodblock prints as old as Hokusai’s. The only museum Jun had been to in recent memory was the Louvre, but with Sho, he found that he could go anywhere, provided that Sho led the way.  
  
It was unnerving, but it felt right.  
  
His gut was telling him that it was right, that he shouldn’t question it for now. Jun knew that he was going to pay it for it later, maybe when Nino finally had a vacancy or when it was time to go home, but for now, he went with his feelings like he often did.  
  
He let Sho’s familiar smile be part of the things he wouldn’t question, and when Sho fell into step beside him as they roamed the gallery, their footsteps matching, Jun finally stopped letting it bother him and just went with the flow.  
  
\--  
  
Sho had fallen into a routine with Jun now. Every time they would return to the inn they’d take a seat at the porch and watch the stars while drinking beer or sake. Tonight it was beer, since he and Jun had enough of sake the day before when they’d tried out too many of the variations every shop in Obuse had to offer.  
  
Tonight though, they had ordered shellfish as they drank their beers, the stars overhead their only illumination since they’d shut the sliding doors behind them.  
  
Sho had noticed Jun’s silence earlier when they were at the castle, but he felt that it wasn’t his business to know. He’d wanted to ask, but Jun would probably find it intrusive. He chose to respect that, instead pretending that he was oblivious to anything so he could hide his own nervousness.  
  
Because being with Jun made him tense. Jun was fun to be with—Sho sincerely enjoyed his company—, to dine with, to joke with, to talk with. With Jun, Sho felt that he wasn’t just talking to someone but conversing with that someone. Jun didn’t simply hear him out, he listened to Sho countless times when all Sho had to talk about was how boring he was.  
  
Sho felt that Jun wasn’t just someone who saw him but someone who knew where to look, though that part made him self-conscious because who was he really? Just a tour guide who overschedules and occasionally gets stressed because of it.  
  
But he liked being with Jun. Whenever Jun would crack a smile at one of his silly jokes, it felt as if it was worth sharing that moment of stupidity so long as they could laugh at it together. Jun’s smiles were something he looked forward to seeing, and he sometimes went out of his way just to make Jun laugh.  
  
And yet, he didn’t pay it much thought because he got Jun to laugh along with him. Granted, Jun really loved making fun of his snoring and more recently, his sloping shoulders, but instead of being insecure, Sho became proud of his odd habit and that part of his body, only because Jun would never fail to break into a smile every time it entered their conversation.  
  
There was something about Jun that made Sho restless, but at the same time, he couldn’t stay away. It was impossible to, they shared a room after all. They shared nearly everything, and Sho knew that was what made things weird lately.  
  
He was now used to seeing Jun’s sleeping face after he woke up. He was accustomed to eating his meals with Jun seated across him, to taking a taxi ride with Jun seated right by his side. His recent video recordings had Jun in them, and his most recent selfie, one he’d taken in the ukiyo-e museum, had him grinning and Jun flashing a peace sign at the camera, their smiles almost matching.  
  
Sho was positive that when he woke up tomorrow, the first thing he would do was to roll over and check if Jun was in the same room and asleep, then smile if that was exactly what he’d see.  
  
Jun had somehow managed to worm inside him, settle in a spot that Sho wasn’t really aware of, until Jun was just simply there, like someone who truly belonged in Sho’s life and not a part of a temporary arrangement.  
  
It was a frightening thought.  
  
Because Sho had no idea how Jun saw him. Jun had listened to him, traveled with him, but other than that… Sho might just be a tour guide in his eyes in the end. A tour guide he didn’t pay for but got anyway. Maybe Jun was only interested in what he had to say because he was a travel agent and this was close to his line of work. Jun was passionate about his work after all. Perhaps his interest in Sho only extended that far.  
  
But if that was the case, wouldn’t Sho notice it? Jun wasn’t as hard to read as he thought when they first met. His eyes were the most honest part of him, and Sho could always tell when he was joking despite his jabs at Sho’s ego with one look in his eyes.  
  
So Jun didn’t just see him as a tour guide or as a roommate or a travel companion. There was something else, but Sho couldn’t really figure it out. It was becoming increasingly difficult to look Jun in the eye. Lately, it felt like something was constantly moving inside his stomach whenever he maintained eye contact with Jun.  
  
Right now, with the two of them seated at the porch and the night breeze constantly sending pleasurable shivers on Sho’s skin, Sho hoped Jun wouldn’t hear how loud his heart was beating. Jun’s hand was only a few inches from his own and there was this nagging feeling that was telling him to reach out and grab it.  
  
“We forgot to buy chestnuts,” Jun said, completely oblivious to Sho’s distress. They’d been talking about yesterday’s shopping spree and their successive intakes of sake just to find the right ones to give to their families and friends.  
  
Obuse’s other popular product was chestnuts, something Sho could remember as part of what he had blabbed on while he and Jun had been in the taxi on the way to Obuse.  
  
He was pleasantly surprised that Jun had remembered. “I’m not really fond of eating chestnuts.”  
  
“Roasted chestnuts are really good though,” Jun told him.  
  
“But Christmas is over and isn’t that a little too western?”  
  
“I handle overseas accounts, Sho-san. You can’t blame me for occasionally being a little western.”  
  
Sho let out a laugh. “Do you even like chestnuts or are you just thinking of buying them because they’re the other popular product?”  
  
“I don’t like them but I don’t hate them either,” Jun explained. “But I guess you’re right. Christmas is over. Is it mandatory that you only eat roasted ones during Christmas?”  
  
Sho shrugged his shoulders. “You’re the travel agent here. I’m just a tour guide.”  
  
Jun pursed his lips. “Ah but tour guide-san, you really didn’t take me to the Chestnut Alley yesterday.” His tone was amused, like he was glad he was able to say such a thing.  
  
Now that Jun had mentioned it, that completely slipped Sho’s mind. But he had a reason. “You were eager to buy sake for your friends so what was I to do? Even if I wanted to show you the Chestnut Alley, we didn’t have the time. You were very intent on visiting every shop there was.” Sho worried his bottom lip. “Though if you wanted chestnuts, you should have told me.”  
  
Jun was silent for a few moments before Sho heard him grin. “I forgot,” he admitted quietly in that cute voice that indicated he was on the verge of breaking into laughter and was only holding it in.  
  
Sho gave him a light shove. “But you scold me for forgetting? When you just remembered now? How unfair.”  
  
“I thought it’d be part of your schedule since you have this really elaborate one every time,” Jun reasoned, his can of beer resting right above his mouth. Sho wished that there was a little illumination aside from the stars so he could see the markings around Jun’s lips.  
  
“It was,” Sho insisted, “but like I said, you picked sake over chestnuts and I only followed. That’s how tour guides work, Matsumoto-kun. There would be occasional changes to the itinerary if one of the tourists felt like being spontaneous.”  
  
“So I was being spontaneous yesterday?” Jun asked, his mouth quirking.  
  
“You’re an avid, determined shopper who wanted to taste every sake there was in Obuse,” was what Sho told him, and Jun reached over to swat him lightly on the arm. “Then you complain to your poor tour guide that you weren’t able to try the chestnuts when it was truly your fault. What a predicament for tour guide-san.”  
  
“I didn’t hear you complain when we went from shop to shop,” Jun retorted. “And from what I recall, you drank more than I did. Your face was totally red even before we arrived at the soba place.”  
  
Sho opened his mouth only to close it again, remembering that it was also him who talked about free tastes in the first place. He heard a snort beside him, and he turned just in time to see Jun covering half of his face with his hand as his shoulders shook.  
  
“Are you making fun of me, Matsumoto-kun?” he asked, hiding his grin behind his Kirin.  
  
“You should have seen your face, Sho-san. Like a tomato because of how much free sake you had. Ah, I should have taken a photo.” Jun was shaking his head in dismay as he took another sip of his beer.  
  
“You are making fun of me. After I put up with your inability to ski and you being a shopaholic.” Sho shook his head, even clicked his tongue repeatedly. “Clearly I am at a disadvantage in this arrangement.”  
  
“I put up with your snoring every night and that’s including tonight,” Jun shot back, just like Sho had expected. “I put up with your weird hats and love for camouflage, and you tell me you’re at a disadvantage? Really?”  
  
“I have to deal with your grumpiness every morning,” Sho pointed out, though he kept his tone lighthearted. He wasn’t bothered by it. He found that he enjoyed it, looking forward to Jun’s reaction to certain things.  
  
“That’s payback for the snoring,” Jun informed him. Sho could hear the smile in his voice and willed himself not to look because he would definitely have trouble looking away after. “And before you say it, the mouthpiece helps, yes, but you make this weird sound instead.”  
  
Jun then imitated him, his mouth formed in an O with his hand opening and closing before his mouth. “You sounded like you were breathing in an oxygen cylinder. I was worried for a moment.”  
  
“It was soothing though wasn’t it?” Sho asked, not allowing himself to be embarrassed.  
  
Jun finally laughed, shaking his head. “It wasn’t soothing. I just told you I was worried for a moment! Shouldn’t you be self-reflecting?”  
  
“Ah but you see, I wasn’t conscious when it happened so I feel no ounce of responsibility,” Sho said, refusing to back down. “Besides, shouldn’t you be thankful? That you get a soothing effect every night?  
  
Jun shook his head once more, his smile wide and amused and something Sho could clearly see even in the darkness. “It was like ‘please take this soothing effect’ every time. A little forceful if you’d ask me.”  
  
“So you do admit, it was soothing,” Sho said triumphantly. “Hah, I knew it. You’re just complaining!”  
  
“I didn’t say it was soothing,” Jun denied, even though Sho had clearly heard him.  
  
“You did,” Sho insisted, to which Jun’s answer was a fierce shaking of his head and another “No, I didn’t.”  
  
Sho laughed then, unable to resist how cute Jun was being. “I’ll make sure to sleep after you do tonight then. So you don’t hear the soothing oxygen cylinder.” He finally relented.  
  
“I take a while to fall asleep though,” Jun told him quietly.  
  
“Then I’ll wait,” Sho promised, though he wasn’t able to look at Jun anymore. He was grateful for the dark because he could feel his cheeks burning.  
  
Jun sounded uncertain the next time he spoke. “You’ll do that?”  
  
Sho couldn’t answer fast enough. “Yeah.”  
  
Silence followed and Sho’s bravado began draining away. What could Jun be possibly thinking now? Was it a creepy thing to say? Did he make things uncomfortable? Why did he have to go and put his foot in his mouth again?  
  
Instead, his inner panic was interrupted by a quiet “okay” that made him look at Jun.  
  
“Okay,” Sho repeated awkwardly, slowly, and Jun nodded.  
  
When Jun gave him one of his sincere smiles that ended up brightening his whole face, Sho decided that it was something he would keep close to his heart.


	4. Chapter 4

Jigokudani Monkey Park was the last recommended sightseeing location Aiba had included in his itinerary. An added annotation was ‘I know animals don’t like you, Matsujun, but you don’t have to touch the monkeys so it’s going to be fine!’, and Jun had simply sighed when he’d read it.  
  
For the past few days, going to the places Aiba had listed showed him how thorough and hardworking Aiba was. It wasn’t in Aiba’s image, being the guy who had friends in every floor and could talk to almost anyone casually (with the exception of Julie-san), but Jun was seeing a different side to his “meddlesome” colleague with every local tourist spot he visits.  
  
Aiba’s itinerary was full of notes in messy scrawls, full of hiragana and katakana because he probably couldn’t remember the proper kanji. It made the paper more personal though, and Jun could just imagine Aiba researching and coordinating with the right people just to prepare everything for him.  
  
Jun didn’t want to waste his efforts. Aiba was Aiba, but Jun’s impression of him changed the longer he stayed in the onsen (mostly because of Nino) and instead of being angry at him for going out of his way to make this happen, Jun was genuinely feeling grateful.  
  
Aiba had been right. Jun had needed the break, he just didn’t acknowledge it. He had put it off over and over because of his dedication, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but he needed this time to rest. Jun had no doubts he would come back to Tokyo feeling refreshed and ready to take on a very demanding client, all because he’d accepted the envelope from Aiba that day.  
  
Toma had always referred to Aiba as the company miracle worker, and Jun was so glad it had been Aiba who interfered and made this trip possible for him. How Aiba had known Jun needed it, Jun had no idea, but he had conceded it as part of his friend’s uniqueness.  
  
So Jun made sure to put a strikethrough to location from the list every time he’d come back from sightseeing, just so he could show Aiba the paper next week and say proudly that he managed to cover everything and even came back with photos and souvenirs.  
  
Aiba would definitely be proud of him. And Jun, as much as he’d never admit it out loud, wanted him to always be.  
  
Seeing that the monkey park was the last one on the list, Jun had taken the initiative to invite Sho to come sightseeing with him. Sho had been doing the same thing for the past few days and Jun was eager to return the favor.  
  
After all, who else would Jun invite?  
  
Sho had been agreeable, his almost goofy grin brightening up his face and his eagerness evident in his eyes. Jun had to look away when he did that, feeling like something was churning inside his stomach.  
  
Like always, Jun let Sho lead the trip, only that this time Jun noticed that Sho was really into filming everything, his camcorder powered on even if they were simply trekking through the snow to reach the park. Sho was blabbing on as always, about the park’s history and some information about the snow monkeys that they were on their way to see.  
  
Seeing him so enthusiastic, bordering on silly, Jun couldn’t help smiling once in a while.  
  
“Do you always film your trips like this?” Jun asked curiously, careful to maintain his pace so he wouldn’t leave Sho behind.  
  
“I even edit my travel videos,” Sho answered.  
  
Jun’s eyes widened for a bit. “Even with your busy tour guide job?”  
  
Sho laughed. “I try to make time for editing. It allows me to relive the experience in a different perspective.”  
  
“If you edit everything you’ve taken during this trip,” Jun said, just as Sho panned the camcorder to his face, “would you mind providing me with a copy?”  
  
Sho looked dumbstruck. “You really want one?”  
  
Jun suddenly felt self-conscious. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to a trip like this,” with someone else, he didn’t say. It had been too long he’d been with someone who wasn’t a good friend or a family member (and that was speaking in general, Jun remembered, a little dejected). And those had been mostly overseas trips.  
  
In fact, Jun hadn’t been on a trip like this before, and that was factoring Sho into the equation.  
  
“While I do take photos, they’re for Aiba-kun and his future flyers,” Jun continued, no longer looking at Sho but focusing on the path before them, the snow they still had to walk through together. “I’m never in any of them, so what proof can I bring that I’m actually having fun? Aiba-kun, he’d want proof. He wouldn’t take my word for it.”  
  
“Then I’ll be glad to help you with that,” Sho told him honestly. “Though I have to warn you, I have this tendency to use fade to blacks and other kinds of transitions and chuck in bits of text.”  
  
Jun chuckled. “As long as you don’t use Comic Sans for the text, Sho-san, I think it’s going to be fine.” He met Sho’s eyes. “Thank you.”  
  
It was Sho’s turn to look away, his camera pointed at their feet. “It’s nothing.”  
  
It was something, Jun’s mind was telling him, but he wasn’t willing to address it yet. So he let Sho be and continued their trek to the park in silence, their footsteps crunching against the snow.  
  
Thankfully, the park shortly came into their view, and Jun quickly forgot about the awkward silence his sincerity had brought them when he saw the people gathering around a small pool with three snow monkeys bathing.  
  
“Oh, there are a lot of them!” Sho said animatedly, but they were both standing on their toes just to see behind people and their raised cameras.  
  
Jun clicked his tongue, and without thinking too much about it, reached down to grab Sho’s wrist so they could squeeze through the crowd together and get a proper view.  
  
As soon as they found a suitable spot, Jun lifted his camera to take a couple of shots for Aiba. Beside him, he noticed Sho doing the same, although he first recorded everything with his video camera.  
  
Jun was just tucking away the camera after checking his shots when Sho stepped a little close to him, and Jun looked up in time to see Sho’s phone raised and ready for a selfie.  
  
He flashed his usual peace sign and smiled on instinct. He considered asking for a copy of all his photos with Sho, but he stomped down the urge because how was he supposed to ask for something like that? It wasn’t like asking for a travel video.  
  
So he settled for saying nothing, letting the crowd push them to another spot where they could observe the snow monkeys in their natural habitat during winter. Sho made up for Jun’s silence by talking about the monkeys, something Jun was sure Sho had read on Wikipedia days before this trip.  
  
He didn’t mind though, liking the sound of Sho’s voice. Even if he spoke in a documentary-style tone that Jun always found to be sleep-inducing, there was something about the way Sho talks that made him listen, and Jun thought Sho could easily pass for a newscaster had he taken up journalism and pursued it actively.  
  
Jun asked him questions once in a while, watching in amusement how Sho visibly perked up whenever he did. Sho liked being a tour guide, that much Jun knew, but he was only getting proofs of it whenever he assumed the oblivious tourist role and allowed Sho guide him along.  
  
Because it wasn’t difficult to follow Sho. Sho never left him behind, always striving to match his pace and making time for him. Sho was the type who stuck with his schedules to the core, but Jun knew Sho had to have made adjustments for them to spend time and visit places together. Sho had taught him how to ski even if he was in no obligation to and Jun has proven to be an awful student. Sho had taken him to the number one soba place in Nagano, had enthusiastically showed him a castle that shared his family name, and had perused every sake shop in Obuse without complaint.  
  
The only way to return the favor, Jun thought, was to let Sho be his nerdy and dorky self under the glasses and the bucket hat that he’d opted to wear again for today. He was still wearing the hat in the wrong way, but it was so Sho to do so, that Jun didn’t bother to correct the fashion crime.  
  
They strolled around the park with Sho answering every question Jun had for him, from snow monkeys, to the mountains they could see, to Sho’s apparent love for bucket hats.  
  
“I’m very ill-suited for fedoras,” Sho claimed, even shaking his head. “It’s too stylish for me. I can’t pull it off like you do, Matsumoto-kun.”  
  
Jun laughed. “I’m sure no one else would be able to pull off camouflage as well as you do.” He’d seen Sho’s camouflage pants that day they went to buy sake, and he was positive that Sho had even more clothes in similar pattern somewhere inside his trolley suitcase.  
  
“Camo really suits me,” Sho bragged. “I look totally cool in it.”  
  
“Of course you do,” Jun answered immediately.  
  
Sho gave him this look, and Jun just had to laugh.  
  
“It’s not as uncool as you think it is,” Sho insisted.  
  
“I never said it was. I said you can pull it off.”  
  
“So you don’t think I’m uncool?” Sho asked, his head tilted to the side.  
  
Jun hummed in thought and laughed at the sight of Sho’s face falling. “Well, minus the sloping shoulders and the fear of heights and the snoring…”  
  
Sho elbowed him at the side and he chuckled. “I’m being serious here, Matsumoto-kun.” Sho pouted.  
  
“I don’t think you’re uncool,” Jun finished. Sho faced him with a questioning look all over his features. “I don’t. You make ridiculous schedules and plan for every single thing, yes, but that makes you efficient. You’re knowledgeable and you can answer any question I ask. You share what you know with me, not just dump information on me, and I appreciate that. I know I’m not the most patronizing of tourists and that makes me an awful travel buddy, but I really had fun these past few days. I’m still having fun.”  
  
“You’re not,” Sho said.  
  
Jun frowned. “What?”  
  
“You’re not an awful travel buddy,” Sho clarified, realizing his mistake. “I’m happy to know that you don’t find me annoying and that I’m not wasting your time. That’s every tour guide’s fear, I guess, that they end up wasting people’s time because they’re not exactly cut for the job.”  
  
“But you are cut for the job,” Jun insisted. “Although you’re here as a tourist and not as a tour guide, I still appreciate you being one.” For me, he didn’t add, knowing it would be awkward.  
  
“Thank you for telling me that,” Sho said, flashing him a sincere smile that reached his eyes. “I rarely get feedback that’s not from our customer service department.”  
  
Jun shrugged his shoulders. “The only kind of feedback I get is either a certificate at the end of the month or a summary from the HR department so I know the feeling.”  
  
“I get comments about having a soothing voice,” Sho supplied, and Jun caught on his word choice.  
  
“Ah, do you snore with a mouthpiece even inside tour buses?” Jun asked with a fake horrified tone.  
  
Sho shoved him lightly, shaking his head at him, and Jun only laughed. “I once got a complaint for being too meticulous,” Jun said, volunteering information about himself. “I thought I was going to get reprimanded but my boss just said ‘Isn’t that his job?’ to the client and I’ve never felt so good about myself.”  
  
“Sounds like a fantastic boss you have there,” Sho commented, his smile never leaving his face.  
  
Jun tilted his head in acknowledgement. “She sent me here on a company-paid trip because of a company tradition regarding employee benefits so yeah, she is.”  
  
Sho hummed. “You don’t regret coming here then? Going to Hakuba, seeing the rest of Nagano?”  
  
Jun looked at Sho’s eyes and took in everything he was already accustomed to before he even knew it: Sho standing by his side or almost always nearby, Sho and his atrocious fashion sense, Sho and his documentary-style narrations, Sho and his camcorder, and finally, Sho and his ridiculous selfies.  
  
“No,” he answered honestly, hoping his eyes would convey what he couldn’t say.  
  
When Sho had this huge grin to offer him, Jun wanted to believe that he’d managed to.  
  
\--  
  
They ended up eating soba again after they left the park, the both of them praising its rich taste with every slurp. They maintained a light conversation, talking about the places they’d seen for the past few days and which ones they liked best and why.  
  
Sho found out that Jun really enjoyed their shopping trip in Obuse because he was the type who enjoyed purchasing things for people dear to him, imagining what they were going to say when they finally receive the item.  
  
"I like surprising my friends," Jun said, fingers repeatedly tapping on the table's surface. "Planning surprises, I mean. I enjoy seeing the look on their faces when they catch on, but when it comes to people doing the same for me, I can never make the proper reaction."  
  
"Then for example, someone plans a surprise party for your birthday, how do you react?" Sho asked, genuinely curious.  
  
Jun stroked his nose as he thought about it. "I say thank you but it becomes awkward after because they suddenly think I don't like it. It's not that. I just don't know how to properly react to such things."  
  
Sho nodded in understanding. "No wonder you were so persistent about visiting every shop. Of course you'd like Obuse."  
  
Jun waved his hand. "Let me guess. You're going to tell me you liked anything that involved you skiing."  
  
“As well as seeing you being unable to ski and to avoid rocks," Sho added with a grin, and Jun laughed.  
  
They also shared a beer or two in the establishment (or more than that—Sho didn’t really bother to count how many they had), having arrived there mere minutes after sundown. Jun told him that he would like to try one of Nino’s hot spring pools now that they had just witnessed a couple of snow monkeys enjoying their winter baths, and Sho agreed with him.  
  
So they decided that the moment they arrive back at the inn, they were going to visit the onsen and stay there until they got pruny fingers and toes. Jun had a couple of complaints about his leg muscles, saying that he wants to try to relieve the slight pain by soaking in one of the five pool varieties Nino’s establishment had.  
  
In the taxi ride back home, with the streetlights illuminating the sides of Jun’s face once in a while and making him look more captivating than he normally was, Sho found himself doing something he hadn’t planned for.  
  
Their hands were a few inches away from each other, their gloves tucked somewhere in their coats since they had to hold chopsticks earlier. Jun’s hand was splayed on the car’s seat and Sho’s was curled tightly to a fist, and Sho just couldn’t resist the idea, seeing Jun with a soft smile on his face as he looked outside, watching the night scenery with something akin to contentment in his expressive eyes.  
  
Sho reached for his hand without thinking about it.  
  
Sparks of static flared up on Sho’s palm at the contact and he could feel Jun freeze. There was a terse moment of Jun keeping his eyes fixed on a spot in the car window and Sho’s mind rapidly firing questions of _what now what now what did I just do what am I doing what was I thinking_ in succession. He was about to pull away and mumble an awkward apology when Jun’s hand shifted beneath his, turning to meet warm palm against another, and Sho thought his heart must have stopped.  
  
He tried to restart his breathing when he felt Jun’s fingers slide against his, marveling at how perfectly they seemed to fit. He curled his fingers instinctively, feeling Jun do the same, and Sho never wanted to let go because doing this felt right.  
  
Jun wasn’t looking at him; his gaze was fixed somewhere outside. Sho could only look at him in his periphery; he could feel blood rushing to his cheeks. His heart thumped madly in his chest, and for a moment he wondered if Jun could hear it. Sho felt connected to him now; Jun’s warmth mingling with his, and despite the weird feeling in his stomach combined with his rushed pulse, it felt perfect.  
  
This moment with Jun, much like every moment Sho had shared with him, was something Sho didn’t want to question despite the rational side of him telling him that this was all progressing too fast. There was a bigger part of him insisting that it wasn’t progressing fast enough, though this was a huge leap from sitting on the porch night after night and wondering what it would feel like to hold Jun’s hand.  
  
Sho lightly stroked Jun’s thumb with his own, and he didn’t miss Jun’s sharp intake of breath when he did it. Jun’s fingers curled tighter in retaliation, giving Sho’s hand a tiny squeeze that sent Sho’s heart soaring.  
  
He wished for the onsen to be farther away, just so he and Jun could remain like this for a while longer. Like Jun, he maintained his gaze outside, although every part of him was hyperaware of Jun’s presence beside him. Sho let that warmth flow through him and overwhelm him with a sense of security, the constant drumming of his heartbeat serving as background music.  
  
Eventually the onsen came within view and Sho gave Jun’s hand a reassuring squeeze—something Jun returned—before reluctantly letting him go as they split the taxi fare.  
  
Sho couldn’t look at Jun when they stepped out of the vehicle and he was relieved to see Nino manning the front desk with a rather bored look on his face. Jun mumbled an excuse that he was heading for their room and Sho just nodded, hoping Jun had seen it before he left with only the barest of acknowledgements for Nino. Sho walked up to the concierge to have a chat, to collect himself mere minutes after doing something utterly nerve-wracking.  
  
“Beer or sake tonight?” Nino asked, but there was a glint in his eyes that Sho didn’t miss even if he didn’t understand the source of it.  
  
Sho shook his head. “We’re thinking of trying out the pools in your onsen at last.”  
  
“Where did you and Jun-kun go to this time?” Nino asked, his chin plopped on his hand.  
  
“The monkey park in Jigokudani,” Sho answered, earning Nino’s nod.  
  
“I recommend the soda-based one then.” Sho frowned in confusion but Nino only smiled. “Good for the joints, Sho-chan. I imagine you two must have walked around the park and had to squeeze yourself through the crowds. Jigokudani gets super popular from December to March, after all.”  
  
“Thank you, I’ll make sure to check that out,” Sho promised. He gave Nino a small bow. “Good night, Nino.”  
  
Nino returned the sentiments and Sho headed for his room without another word. With every step he took the higher his heart rate went, and he opened the sliding doors with slightly sweaty palms, only to find it empty.  
  
He figured that Jun had already gone to one of the pools.  
  
Sho deposited his stuff in the room before shedding his clothes and wrapping a towel around his waist. He let Jun go ahead because he already knew what kind of effect Jun had on him. Seeing Jun naked so soon after what had happened in the taxi would send his mind reeling and heart pounding, and Sho thought he’d spare himself from that if he could.  
  
Not because Jun wasn’t pleasing to look at (he was, devastatingly so), but Sho also needed a bit of time to compose himself. He’d just held hands with Jun nearly throughout their taxi ride back. Jun’s touch lingered on his skin, and even now Sho could remember how comforting it was, how well they fit together.  
  
Was this progressing too fast? Yes, Sho thought, but it didn’t feel rushed. That was the difference. Sho knew what he wanted, but the thought of his vacation ending soon lingered at the back of his head. If he pursued something with Jun right now and Jun reciprocated, would he able to easily let go when the trip was over?  
  
Sho wasn't the type who did flings, and he knew that this feeling of wanting to know more about Jun, to know Jun himself—it would be with him for a long time. All his reservations, however, he could put aside whenever he remembered that he already had the time he needed.  
  
He’d gotten the time to know Jun, to find out for himself what kind of person his roommate was—his flaws, his weaknesses, his strengths. The more Sho knew, the more drawn in he’d become. He understood what kind of hold Jun had on him and while the idea had been frightening initially, right now he wanted to take the risk, to know what more he could do before they had to go back home.  
  
That meant he had to find Jun.  
  
He proceeded to the pools with a mixture of determination and nervousness in him, trying to find where Jun was without being too obvious. He met Haruka-chan on the way and exchanged a friendly chat with her before continuing his search for Jun, until at last, Sho found him in the pool Nino had recommended earlier.  
  
Sho met Jun’s eyes only briefly, with Jun looking away swiftly as Sho slid in the water. Sho was thankful that the water somehow appeared milky, that its height rose up to his chest, and that the steam could hide the color on his cheeks.  
  
He kept a respectable distance from Jun despite what had happened in the taxi. He busied himself with finding the right spot to lean his body against, letting out a pleased sigh when he was finally able to rest his back against a smooth rock. Sho focused on the water and its supposed healing properties, waiting for the soothing effect Nino had talked about to manifest.  
  
“Today was fun,” he heard Jun blurt out, although Jun was pointedly looking at the ripples in the water in front of him instead of Sho’s face. “Though I kind of feel like I only visited the onsen today because I was envious when I saw how the monkeys were enjoying it.”  
  
Sho had to smile at that. He’d seen Jun embarrassed many times before, but Jun had always managed to play it cool by the end. Cool and collected Jun was gone now, the steam around them not sufficient to hide the adorable flush on his cheeks. Something was insistently tugging in Sho’s heart the longer he looked at Jun and appreciated how cute he could be when he had no clever retort to hide behind.  
  
“Those monkeys were certainly enjoying it better than you are,” Sho said, inching closer to Jun. They were alone in the pool given the hour, and Sho felt braver now that he saw the kind of effect he had on Jun.  
  
He was making Jun nervous, and that knowledge thrilled him.  
  
“Whoever said that I’m not enjoying it?” Jun asked, his voice a little strained.  
  
“I believe I just did.” Sho moved closer still, until he was right beside Jun and their shoulders would brush should either of them move. Sho watched how the water droplets from Jun’s hair traveled down his neck to his collarbones, leaving a damp path. Jun had broad shoulders, which Sho learned to appreciate even more now that he saw the pale skin littered with glistening waterdrops.  
  
Sho was probably as jittery as Jun, but it made him giddy and excited knowing that the usually calm and stoic Matsumoto Jun was carefully choosing his words. It was out of character for the Jun he’d known and therefore something Sho couldn’t resist.  
  
“Jun?” he whispered quietly, seeing Jun’s shoulders tense before Jun slowly turned his head to look at him.  
  
“You never called me that before,” Jun said, the disbelief so obvious in his voice.  
  
“I know.” Sho’s gaze went to Jun’s mouth on instinct, at the marks on, above, and under Jun’s lips that reminded him of the stars more than once, and he knew what he wanted to do.  
  
He leaned in, only hesitating for a fraction of a second before turning off his brain and closing his eyes. He pressed his lips against Jun’s, a fleeting touch that he intended to be chaste, tentative. Jun went shock-still for a few moments, but then he sighed and kissed back, his hand creeping up to the back of Sho’s neck to tilt his head so their mouths could meet properly.  
  
Sho reached up to cup Jun’s cheek, keeping the kiss slow, their lips merely brushing against each other, parting and meeting again. Kissing Jun felt like everything was slipping away around him and he was trying to feel his way around things once more, but at the same time it felt so good to do so and Sho knew he couldn’t possibly get enough.  
  
They kissed as if they had all the time, their mouths meeting briefly but repeatedly, each kiss longer than the one before it. Sho drank in all of Jun’s soft sighs and short gasps for air, losing himself in the feeling of Jun with him, right under his fingertips. He stroked Jun’s cheekbone with his thumb before sliding his hand down Jun’s jaw, and he delighted in the shiver Jun made when he let his fingers trace Jun’s jawline.  
  
Sho pulled away just a little to look at Jun’s eyes, and the desire to lose himself in that brownness made him press a lingering kiss to the corner of Jun’s mouth.  
  
“Sho,” Jun sighed, and it was as if with that one syllable alone Jun had managed to ignite something in him.  
  
He cupped the back of Jun’s neck with force and captured his mouth in a kiss more daring than the previous, something Jun returned after a brief moment of surprise. Sho tilted Jun’s head to kiss him better, making Jun moan, his lips parting and allowing Sho to deepen the kiss as he greedily curled his tongue in Jun’s mouth, licking every ridge and contour, familiarizing himself with how Jun tastes like.  
  
Jun’s fingers slid up his hair, nails scraping his scalp as their kiss grew more heated and heady, interspersed with pleased noises that were muffled by their mouths not parting. Jun’s other hand found his neck, stroking his rushed pulse, and Sho pressed himself closer to Jun, wanting Jun’s scent and the entire feel of him to overwhelm him. His sense of time collapsed; the only thing he knew was the feel of Jun’s skin under his touch, his lips against Sho’s own, the sounds he kept making every time Sho sucked on his tongue.  
  
They broke apart when they heard voices coming from the inn—high-pitched squeals followed by giggles. Jun was panting heavily, no different than Sho was, but to Sho’s eyes he looked utterly breathtaking in this moment: his face flushed from what they’d just shared, his eyes telling Sho everything he needed to know, his lips swollen from Sho’s kiss.  
  
It was taking all of Sho’s willpower not to kiss him senseless again. The laughter echoed throughout the halls of the inn, and they both knew that things weren’t so private anymore.  
  
Sho maintained the distance they had earlier, trying to even out his breathing and keeping his hands to himself even though his fingers itched to reach for Jun once more.  
  
“I’ll go first,” Jun stammered, still a little breathless. “I’ll see you back in the room.”  
  
Sho could only nod, finding that his throat had gone dry. His eyes followed Jun’s form as Jun waded through the water, noticing the borders of his shoulder blades so prominent, the strong lines of his back muscles, the bumps formed by the tips of his spine until they disappeared under the water.  
  
Jun’s broadness gradually tapered down to a slim waist, and Sho couldn’t stop looking at him.  
  
Jun didn’t spare him another glance, wrapping a towel around himself and leaving, though not before Sho had gotten a generous view of his backside. Sho leaned back against a rock to digest everything that had just happened.  
  
He had kissed Jun. Jun, after calling him by his name at last. A while ago he’d just been holding Jun’s hand, and now he had just kissed Jun breathless. Everything was progressing too fast but Sho just went for what he felt like doing when he saw the way Jun looked at him. Had Jun been looking at him like that for a while? He didn’t know. All he knew was that he’d kissed Jun and Jun had kissed back, returning and sharing everything with him.  
  
Sho reached up to touch his lips, remembering with clarity how it felt when the softness of Jun’s warm and inviting mouth was pressed against it.  
  
He looked up, seeing the stars twinkling over his head despite a light mist caused by the steam clouding the edges of his vision. Sho only stared at them for a while, vaguely wondering where else Jun might have beauty marks on.  
  
He straightened up and started walking towards the edge the pool, his mind made up.  
  
He had to find out.  
  
\--  
  
Jun proceeded to change into the onsen-issued yukata after he’d arrived in the room. He tried to look for things to do out of nervousness, finding it surreal that mere moments ago, Sho had taken the initiative and kissed him and he’d kissed back.  
  
Jun could still remember how it felt like when Sho had reached for his hand. It had been as if his brain stopped working for a moment and all he’d heard was the thundering beat of his heart inside his ribcage. He’d acted on instinct, not wanting the moment to pass with Sho’s efforts wasted.  
  
Then Sho had called him by his name despite deliberately sticking with ‘Matsumoto-kun’ for the past two days, had kissed him breathlessly till they both had run out of words to say.  
  
What was happening? Was he only feeling like this because of the close quarters they’d been sharing for the past few days? No, Jun thought quickly, it wasn’t just that. Their shared room had contributed a lot for them to reach this stage, but Jun couldn’t attribute everything to that alone.  
  
Because he had come to know Sho. He got to know Sho beyond the corners of this room, got to witness for himself what kind of person Sakurai Sho was like. And that was it, he realized. He’d fallen for Sho’s goofy smiles, his silly jokes, his boisterous and contagious laughter, his questionable fashion sense, his odd sleeping habits—all at once. It had happened without him even realizing it until Sho had reached for his hand in the darkness.  
  
It was as if everything made sense all of a sudden, him living and breathing his work so that he eventually ended up here, five hours away from Tokyo, to find Sho and spend time with him, only to fall for him.  
  
And Sho obviously liked him. Him and his weakness in the mornings, his inability to ski, the intensity of focus he had whenever he shopped for things, the way he had to elaborate on what he was saying because his facial features often gave the wrong impression. Sho had put up with all of that, even Jun’s mockery of his habits and choices, all without question when Sho didn’t have to.  
  
How was Jun going to resist someone like that? Not many people would ride an elevator to the top of a 120-meter ski jumping hill despite their acrophobia just because Jun had wanted to see it. And even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to name Olympic athletes and state their corresponding scores with confidence.  
  
Sho could be boring, too nerdy, and sloppy at times, someone who didn’t fall under any of Jun’s previous interests, but there was something about him. Maybe it was his ability to listen unconditionally or his patience or his sincerity or his willingness to share. Maybe it was all of those combined along with something else that made him Sho. Jun wasn’t sure.  
  
All Jun knew was that here he was, a little nervous since Sho would be arriving any moment now, but he wasn’t scared. Not after Sho had made the first move and expressed everything he needed to know by showing instead of telling.  
  
The doors slid open and Jun was at the low table pretending to read. All the characters before his eyes had blurred and all he could think of was how good it felt to kiss Sho, how right and perfect their moment in the car had been, how appropriate he’d found it when they’d kissed in the pool.  
  
Sho went straight to the bathroom without a word, only coming out when he was clad in similar attire as Jun was. Jun couldn’t help thinking it suited Sho better, that his angular shoulders were made to look that good despite being dressed in a plain, dark blue yukata.  
  
“I finally met her,” Sho said quietly. “The famous person, I mean.”  
  
That piqued Jun’s interest. He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked at Sho, although his eyes automatically fell on Sho’s plump lips. “Who was she?” Jun managed to ask despite something inside him nagging him to stand up, to shove Sho towards the nearest wall and kiss him until the air left their lungs. Their time in the pool earlier hadn’t been enough.  
  
“Mizuhara Kiko-san,” Sho answered, a slight smile dancing on his lips.  
  
Jun knew who that was because of Mao-chan and her adoration for Mizuhara’s style whenever the model was featured in magazines. “Oh. No wonder they had to keep it secret.”  
  
Sho nodded, already making his way towards their shared quarters. “I got a handshake from her, something I could brag about when I see my colleagues.”  
  
“Good for you then,” Jun said awkwardly, hating himself for not acting on what he wanted. He turned back to reading, although he paid more attention to the sounds Sho was making on the other side of the room.  
  
Eventually Jun stood up, shutting his manga volume and making his way to their shared sleeping quarters. Sho had left the sliding door ajar, and when Jun crossed the threshold, he saw that Sho was already under the covers, his back facing Jun’s side of the room.  
  
Jun shut the door quietly, heading for his own futon in light steps. As he removed his glasses, he noticed that Sho’s breathing wasn’t as heavy as it would’ve been had he been sleeping.  
  
Jun settled himself under the sheets, rolling onto his side so his back was turned away from Sho. There was something stashed under his pillow that was poking the side of his head lightly, something he’d arrived to after he came back from the pool.  
  
He was a hundred percent certain Nino had been the one who put it there.  
  
Jun wasn’t aware of how much time had passed till he heard a shuffle of movement from behind him. He pointedly kept his gaze at the wall and willed himself not to turn, that is, until he felt Sho’s undeniable presence close to him.  
  
Jun rolled over, finding Sho crouching beside his futon and looking at him.  
  
Jun let his gaze roam over Sho’s face, at the girth of his neck down to his collarbones peeking from the edges of his yukata. Their eyes met and Jun simply reached up, holding on to Sho’s nape to pull him down as he surged upward to meet him halfway.  
  
Jun closed his eyes and kissed Sho the way he’d always wanted to, aware that they were way past the soft and slow kisses they’d shared earlier.  
  
Sho kissed him back just as fiercely, one of his hands firmly planted on the tatami underneath them for balance. Jun’s other hand found the back of Sho’s head, pushing their faces closer despite space being nonexistent between them, and Jun finally lay back, pulling Sho down with him.  
  
Sho’s hands went to either sides of Jun’s head as Sho balanced himself on top of him, his hair tickling Jun’s forehead. Jun found Sho’s tongue and sucked on it sensuously, delighting in the choked moan that he elicited from Sho. Sho’s mouth was tempting and pliant, something Jun wouldn’t be able to keep away from anytime soon. His body felt like it was beginning to burn up and yet he wanted Sho to be closer still despite them pressed against each other.  
  
Sho tore himself away from Jun’s mouth with a rather noisy kiss before undoing the sash of his own yukata and tossing it to the side. Jun could only watch while he tried to catch his breath as Sho shrugged the garment off himself, the hard lines of his shoulders and arms still visible in the darkness.  
  
Sho descended on him again, kissing him insistently. Jun felt Sho’s hands fumbling with the sash of his yukata and couldn’t help groaning, something Sho silenced with a growl and a wicked roll of his hips that shot spikes of pleasure up Jun’s spine.  
  
Jun’s yukata fell open and Sho pulled back to take in the sight of newly exposed skin. Jun sat up so he could maneuver his shoulders and remove the garment entirely, leaving him exposed.  
  
He couldn’t help shivering a little when cool air hit his skin. Sho cupped his neck and tilted his head back, and Jun let out a gasp when Sho started kissing his jawline, teeth nipping lightly at the curve of bone before sucking at his jugular. He dug his nails on Sho’s hipbones as Sho moved to sit astride his thighs, his mouth still attached to his neck and now kissing its way down to his clavicle.  
  
Jun let his hands wander, from Sho’s shoulders down his spine to his ass through the boxers Sho opted to wear, liking the way it felt in his hands. He was discovering a whole new level of appreciation for Sho’s perky bottom as he began kneading the cheeks.  
  
“I thought I was imagining things when I felt you staring at my ass,” Sho whispered against the hollow of his throat, and Jun could feel the smug grin he made afterwards. “I guess not.”  
  
“Don’t get cocky,” Jun shot back, albeit almost out of breath because Sho’s mouth went up to his earlobe and his tongue was licking the shell of his ear. “You were totally staring when I left the pool earlier.”  
  
Sho cupped his face and turned his head for their eyes to meet. “You’re not aware of how you look, are you?”  
  
Jun blushed at the implication of Sho’s words. He had a horrible acne phase during puberty, one that had left him with imperfect skin and some scars. He had a strong face because of his striking eyebrows and he was aware of it, but beyond that, he never really thought his large features would attract someone like Sho.  
  
Sho kissed him fully on the mouth, though he kept it chaste and light. “I like it when you’re speechless.”  
  
“Are we in the middle of something or not?” Jun asked instead, his fingers now tracing Sho’s spine. He hated how his cheeks felt like they were burning, resulting to Sho’s smile growing wider.  
  
“You’re so cute,” Sho whispered, dropping a quick kiss to the tip of his nose. “And so impatient too.”  
  
Sho pushed him back against the futon, and Jun’s shock ended in a gasp when Sho ducked to kiss the dip between his collarbones down to his sternum, until the promising heat of Sho’s mouth closed over one of his nipples. Jun held him in place by burying his fingers in Sho’s thick hair as Sho swirled his tongue eagerly over the hardening nub, the skin around it pebbling at the attention.  
  
He felt Sho thumbing at his other nipple and he moaned Sho’s name when Sho’s teeth closed over the bud under his lips and gave it a little tug, one that sent Jun’s blood rushing south. Sho pinched his other nipple lightly and his body arched as a reaction, his hands moving to grasp Sho’s arms and squeezing tight.  
  
Sho’s hot mouth moved downward, licking a path down to his navel that left Jun’s skin burning to the touch. He clung to Sho’s biceps in an effort not to hurry things up and increase the friction between their bodies, though he couldn’t help writhing as a reaction every now and then. It had been a while since he’d shared a bed (or a futon in this case) with someone who took their time to explore, who focused on making him feel good, who kissed nearly every patch of skin they could see.  
  
He had to bite his bottom lip to keep from groaning when Sho’s mouth reached his clothed erection. Sho began mouthing at his crotch, tracing the outline of Jun’s cock with his tongue and following it with sucks that reduced Jun to frustrated gasps and hissing intakes of air.  
  
He eventually broke away to lick his lips, hooking his finger at the waistband of Jun’s boxers.  
  
“This is in my way,” Sho complained, and Jun fought the urge to kick him for sounding so terribly pleased with himself.  
  
“Then take them off,” Jun shot back, unable to hide the annoyance in his voice.  
  
Jun could feel Sho smiling against his navel, Sho giving the skin a playful nip as he slid Jun’s boxers down. Jun lifted his hips to help Sho remove the distracting garment, sighing in content when his erection was finally free.  
  
Sho pressed fleeting kisses to his hipbones down to the insides of his thighs, and Jun focused on the sound of his heartbeat drumming against his ears to rein in the temptation of speeding things up. There was a moment of Jun feeling nothing, and he looked down just in time to see Sho’s tongue darting out to lick at the slick head of his cock.  
  
Sho was staring at his face, watching his every reaction as he continued lapping at the precome at the tip. Jun’s breathing became labored, his entire body alight with the sensations, pleasure surging up in him in tiny waves as Sho’s mouth finally closed around the head, allowing Jun’s cock to slip inside his hot mouth.  
  
Hearing his moans must have spurred Sho on, who now bobbed his head and took more of Jun in with every smooth slide of his lips. Jun kept his hands fisted at the sheets, his eyes shut tight. He bit his bottom lip in an effort not to cry out when Sho gave a tiny hum.  
  
Sho pulled away with a pop that echoed in the silence of the room, his hand pumping Jun’s shaft slickened with his spit. Sho flattened his tongue over the slit at the head and stroked faster, till precome hit his tongue and Jun groaned in undeniable pleasure.  
  
Jun wanted more of Sho’s promising mouth, but when he was getting close, he tangled his fingers in Sho’s hair, pulling at the strands to make him stop. Sho pulled off and looked at him questioningly, and Jun, seeing Sho’s face full of desire, knew exactly what he wanted.  
  
No more of the teasing flicks of Sho’s tongue or the wet suction that turned Jun’s breath ragged. Those weren’t enough. He needed more.  
  
He reached under his pillow, fumbling for that tube Nino had stashed in there because he was just as meddlesome as his good friend Aiba Masaki was. Jun didn’t think they’d use it and he initially wanted to go up to Nino and file a complaint, but right now he knew that he needed more than Sho’s mouth and his possessive touches that left searing patterns on Jun’s skin.  
  
The idea of Sho inside him made him shove the tube in Sho’s hands, and Sho looked at him in uncertainty.  
  
“You’re sure?” Sho asked in that adorably hesitant way, his fingers trembling around the lube. “I—I don’t have anything here.”  
  
Jun clicked his tongue and pulled out a strip of condoms under the pillow, another thing Nino had stashed in there while they were soaking in his pools.  
  
“You—?” Sho tried, sounding surprised, but Jun shook his head.  
  
“Nino, I think,” he explained. “I found them after…well…”  
  
“After we kissed?” Sho finished for him, and Jun was actually going for ‘after we tried to relax our aching joints in the soda-based pool', but Sho’s version worked too.  
  
Jun shrugged. He sat up, resting his weight on his wrists to look at Sho properly, ignoring the fact that he was completely naked and hard with Sho kneeling between his legs, lube in one hand and condoms in the other.  
  
This was becoming awkward, Jun thought angrily; not knowing who to blame. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to. I…I understand that this is too fast and that’s something you might not be okay with so—”  
  
Sho leaned forward to kiss him silent, cutting off his awkward mumbling. “Remind me to thank Nino before we leave,” Sho whispered when he pulled away.  
  
“God no,” Jun protested, just as Sho let out a laugh, his breath fanning Jun’s cheek. “He won’t let us live it down. He’s going to gloat forever.”  
  
And worse, Nino would definitely tell Aiba everything he knew about Sho so Aiba could bug Jun to spill all the details the moment Jun shows up for work the following week.  
  
“Lie back,” Sho suddenly growled against his ear, the laughter from earlier vanishing in an instant, replaced by a demanding voice that made Jun shiver in anticipation.  
  
He did as Sho asked, and Sho situated himself properly between Jun’s splayed thighs. Sho cupped the back of his knee to put one of his legs over his shoulder, and Jun tried to even out his breathing as he watched Sho squeeze a dollop of lube on his fingers before reaching down, bypassing his cock and perineum to trace around his hole.  
  
“Relax,” Sho reminded, and Jun glared at him in the darkness.  
  
“I am relaxed.” He didn’t miss Sho’s smirk. “You need to hurry up or—”  
  
Whatever he was going to say ended up in a gasp because Sho suddenly pushed in, one finger stretching him slowly. It had been too long for Jun but Sho was patient, taking his time to watch every reaction Jun made, trying to discover what worked for Jun and how Jun liked it.  
  
Eventually Jun was bucking back to the stretch so Sho added another one, and Jun’s hips canted, body acting involuntarily. Sho began scissoring slowly, burying his digits up to the knuckle that made Jun’s vision turn white at the edges. Sho’s other hand stroked soothing circles on his hipbone, keeping his hips in place even if Jun wanted to move along with Sho and ride his fingers.  
  
Jun inhaled sharply when Sho inserted a third finger, the pace slow and nothing close to what Jun craved for. He bit the back of his hand when Sho started to curl his digits inside, crooking them until he found what he was looking for, sending Jun’s nerves flaring with the onslaught of sensations.  
  
“Just tell me,” he heard Sho say, albeit he couldn’t focus on Sho’s request very well. His toes were curling, and when Sho’s finger grazed his prostate once more, he had enough.  
  
He clenched on instinct and uttered a drawn out version of Sho’s name, and Jun caught the lust evident in Sho’s eyes, his eyes nearly black. Sho pulled his fingers out, resulting to Jun letting out a breath. Sho moved away to deal with his boxers, slightly tripping in his haste to get naked. Jun only watched as Sho fumbled with a condom, quickly rolling it onto himself before lubing up.  
  
Jun reached to his side for another pillow, placing it under his hips. Sho lifted one of his legs again, his ankle now resting on Sho’s shoulder. The tip of Sho’s cock was poking him and that smidgen of pressure against his hole made Jun push back, trying to let Sho know that he was more than ready without saying it.  
  
Sho looked at him and he nodded, eyes fluttering close when Sho slid in slowly. The stretch of Sho’s cock inside him felt like everything he needed but wasn’t able to imagine; he felt full yet still ravenous, satisfied with the feeling of Sho sheathed deeply yet wanting more and everything Sho was willing to give.  
  
Sho was biting on his bottom lip in an effort to keep still, and Jun hooked his other leg around Sho’s waist to pull him closer when he was sufficiently adjusted to the feeling of Sho’s thick cock filling him.  
  
“Fuck me,” he demanded crudely, knowing Sho needed the push.  
  
Jun couldn’t help groaning when Sho pulled out shallowly before thrusting back in. Sho started with slow and maddening thrusts, but he picked up pace after a few moments, his need intensifying with each snap of his hips. Jun raked his nails down Sho’s abs as Sho rocked faster against him, the sting making Sho hiss.  
  
“Jun,” Sho was moaning repeatedly, burying himself deep and knocking the breath out of Jun's lungs. He bent Jun’s leg till Jun’s knee was touching his ear and Jun reached for Sho’s face so he could silence all of Sho’s groans with a kiss.  
  
He dug his nails in Sho’s biceps as Sho continued driving in, the sound of their bodies coming together ringing in his ears. He put his lips right next to Sho’s ear and demanded, “Harder, fuck, Sho, harder,” with Sho complying until all Jun could do was take it and meet him thrust for thrust, their combined noises of pleasure filling the room.  
  
“Touch me,” Jun begged when he felt himself getting close. He needed Sho’s hand, just one stroke or even a finger on his cock would do, he thought wildly.  
  
“Come with me,” Sho demanded against his jaw, his hips constantly slamming against Jun’s ass. He circled his hand on Jun’s erection and pumped in time with his thrusts, grip twisting just right and sending Jun to a series of moans. “Jun, open your eyes.”  
  
Jun did, finding that Sho was watching him intensely. Jun tried to tell him that he was close, but then Sho hit his prostate and squeezed around his cock at the same time, and Jun’s senses crashed. He came abruptly, spurting hot all over his stomach and crying out in pleasure without looking away from Sho’s eyes.  
  
Sho fucked into him once, twice, before letting out a choked groan and riding it out, thrusting shallowly until the aftershocks faded. Finally he collapsed against Jun, panting his exhaustion against the damp skin of Jun’s neck.  
  
Still trapped in the haze of post-orgasmic bliss, Jun wanted nothing more than to sink into the sheets, to rest his heavy and weary limbs. He could already predict the imminent soreness he was bound to feel the following morning, but it was a pleasurable kind of tingle that would manifest in all the right places.  
  
He vaguely registered the bulk of Sho’s weight on top of him and Sho lowering his leg before balancing himself on his forearms. Sho loomed over him, caging him, his breathing frantic as beads of perspiration trickled down the sides of his face.  
  
Jun brushed off the hair sticking to Sho’s forehead, fingers combing the wet strands. He met Sho’s gaze evenly, waiting for what Sho was going to say.  
  
“Hi,” Sho breathed, pressing his forehead against Jun’s.  
  
Jun wiped away the sweat that had accumulated above Sho’s lips with his thumb.  
  
“Hi,” he whispered back.


	5. Chapter 5

Sho woke with his face buried in the crook of Jun's neck, one of his arms loosely wrapped around Jun’s middle, and his legs tangled with Jun’s.  
  
They’d moved to Sho’s futon after cleaning themselves up and untucking the sheets from Jun’s, collapsing in a sweaty heap of limbs and falling asleep almost immediately after, not minding the fact that they had to squeeze themselves together in a tiny futon. Jun was still in deep slumber as Sho slid away to sit up. Rays of sunlight were filtered by the closed doors, and when Sho checked, he realized that he woke five minutes before his alarm.  
  
He turned it off and swooped down to press a quick kiss to Jun’s temple. It had been a long time since he’d woken up with someone beside him. Jun grunted, face scrunching for a moment as he buried the side of his face into the pillows and continued sleeping. Sho smiled, allowing himself a few moments to watch Jun before reaching for his discarded yukata and wrapping it around himself.  
  
He slid outside quietly, keeping his footsteps light out of respect to the other guests as he tried to find any onsen staff to inquire about breakfast.  
  
Nino was stretching and yawning when Sho found him, standing at the entrance of the establishment. Nino twisted his trunk side to side and patted his own cheeks twice, turning to look over his shoulder as Sho approached.  
  
“Good morning, Sho-chan,” Nino greeted genially, something Sho returned. “You guys eating here or someplace else? So I can tell Oh-chan, though I’m pretty sure he’s still asleep and will be making faces when I wake him up just to cook.”  
  
“We can wait,” Sho said, and he caught Nino’s eyes narrowing minutely. “I mean, I don’t mind and I don’t think Ju—Matsumoto-kun will do, too, so…yeah.”  
  
“I should invest in thicker walls, don’t you think?” was what Nino said instead, his face breaking into a mischievous smile. Sho could feel his cheeks heating up, and Nino finally gave in and laughed. “Though in all honesty, I probably only heard it because Kiko-chan and her friends left yesterday night. You met her, right?”  
  
Sho nodded, jumping at the opportunity to talk about something safe, not wanting to dwell on the fact that Nino had heard him and Jun last night. “She shook my hand.”  
  
“You should have asked for a photo or an autograph instead of something as ordinary as a handshake.” Nino shrugged. “Ah, but whatever. When Haruka-chan wakes up we’ll begin tidying up the rooms, and I think we’ll have one available by lunch time.” Nino looked at him. “Do you want it?”  
  
Sho was confused. “Want what?”  
  
“The room. I promised you and Jun-kun that once we had a vacancy you’d know, and now we do so I’m telling you. For half the price of one night of course, considering how you were supposed to get it days ago.”  
  
Sho thought about Jun sleeping in his futon, unaware of a thing. He remembered how it felt to kiss Jun, to touch him with deliberateness and care, even affection.  
  
“No,” he said, even shaking his head. “No, I’m not taking it. Thank you for the offer though.”  
  
Nino only nodded, as if he understood clearly. Maybe he did, now that Sho also recalled that the lube and condoms under Jun’s pillow had been Nino’s doing.  
  
“Mind telling Jun-kun?” Nino asked. “That a room’s available and if he wants it, he can come up to me? I have to go to the market after this. Haruka-chan’s been bugging me about the inn not having mentaiko and potatoes for two straight days now.”  
  
Sho didn’t want to, but found himself nodding anyway. Nino excused himself with a polite bow, his confident smirk back on his face. “Breakfast will be within an hour, two at most. Depends if I can wake Ohno-san up now or much later.”  
  
Nino walked away without another word, leaving Sho staring at the sun peeking from the edges of the snowy mountain ranges. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to keep it a secret from Jun after everything they’d done, but telling Jun could give the impression that he wanted Jun gone and that was furthest from the truth.  
  
Sho headed back to their room quickly, rushing inside to find Jun still sleeping soundly. He felt so conflicted and selfish, seeing Jun lying on his futon and thinking that Jun totally looked like he belonged there. He slid the door shut behind him, sinking to his knees to crawl close to where Jun lay.  
  
Sho had to tell him. It would be rude not to after Nino had entrusted him with it. If Jun said yes, then Sho couldn’t stop him and he knew he wouldn’t. It would hurt, but he’d barrel through, he believed. He’d rather deal with Jun leaving than keep a thing from him.  
  
The edges of the blanket lay just below Jun’s hipbones, and Sho thought, if Jun was going to leave soon, he might as well make use of the opportunity now.  
  
He slid the sheets down Jun’s form, revealing the pale skin of his thighs. Sho situated between Jun’s legs and nudged the limbs apart to make room for himself. Jun remained in deep slumber, his breathing even, and Sho licked his lips before pressing his tongue against Jun’s flaccid cock.  
  
He continued licking lines along the length, his hands on Jun’s thighs to keep him open, exposed as Sho proceeded to work him up. It took a while of alternating between kissing and licking the shaft before he got Jun half-hard, and Sho licked his lips once before finally taking Jun’s cock into his mouth.  
  
Jun let out a grunt above him and he looked up, but Jun was still asleep, although there was a little frown on his face. Sho sped up, one hand moving to fondle Jun’s balls as Jun’s cock slid deeper into his mouth. He sucked dutifully, using Jun’s precome and his spit as lube, and when Jun’s limbs jolted around him, he broke off with an audible pop.  
  
“Wha—” Jun grunted, eyes blinking groggily as he looked down.  
  
Sho rested his cheek against the inside of Jun’s thigh. “Good morning.” He kissed the leaking head of Jun’s cock before smiling up at Jun.  
  
“Sho,” Jun said, voice scratchy and thick with sleep but there was lust and elation there too, like he couldn’t believe what was happening and he was happy that Sho woke him up this way.  
  
Sho hummed in question, moving his hand to circle around the base of Jun’s cock. Jun was fully hard now and Sho felt Jun’s dick grow heavier with each small stroke he gave.  
  
Jun seemed to choose his words carefully, and Sho felt fingers sliding to tangle themselves in his hair as Jun guided his mouth back down. “Don’t leave me hanging.”  
  
Sho managed a grin before opening his mouth and continuing to suck Jun off, even humming as he went deeper and faster. Jun’s pleased and satisfied groans were muffled by the back of his hand, but that just encouraged Sho to prove himself, taking Jun to the very back of his throat and pulling away only to do it again.  
  
Jun was cursing behind his hand now, his spine curving and head thrown back, showing the veins of his pale neck. His hand continued to guide Sho’s head down, getting a little forceful with the pacing as his need to finish intensified.  
  
When Sho saw Jun’s thighs quivering, he stopped and circled his hand around the base, preventing Jun to come.  
  
Jun’s eyes shot open as he let out a frustrated growl, looking down wildly at Sho.  
  
“I want you to hold out for me,” Sho said, licking his plush and tender lips.  
  
Jun was panting already, his cheeks and chest reddened, his eyes so dark. “I can’t.”  
  
“Yes, you can. I know you can,” Sho assured him, keeping his hand fisted around Jun’s cock. He gave Jun a few moments and contented himself with the sight of Jun attempting to regulate his breathing, the sheets balled in his hands as he prevented himself from thrusting into Sho’s grip.  
  
“I want you to tell me when to stop,” Sho demanded, keeping his voice low in the way he knew Jun liked. “I’ll keep going until otherwise, but you have to tell me. You can do that, right?”  
  
Jun was letting out hissing intakes of air but he managed to nod, making Sho smile. He allowed Jun to recollect himself, for the brink of his orgasm to subside before stroking Jun slowly, his eyes fixed on Jun’s face.  
  
Sho went faster when Jun was beginning to get used to the pace, eliciting another moan from Jun. He ducked down to lap up the precome at the head, tonguing repeatedly at the slit as he savored the taste of Jun all over his mouth.  
  
His name spilled from Jun’s parted lips and he rewarded Jun by sucking at the head and pumping the length hard, not stopping even when Jun was again almost within the edge.  
  
“Stop,” Jun huffed in panic, his hips canting. “Stop, stop, stop, Sho—”  
  
Sho did, immediately clamping his hand around the base. His other hand rubbed circles on Jun’s thighs, helping Jun to come back down as Jun mashed the side of his face against the pillows and nearly sobbed in frustration, the strain obvious in his muscles. Jun was completely under his mercy, trying so hard just because he’d asked, and Sho’s heart swelled with pride at the sight of him.  
  
“Shh,” Sho whispered, kissing Jun’s hipbones as Jun lay panting. “Shh, I got you.”  
  
He planted series after series of kisses on Jun’s abdomen as a distraction, one hand caressing Jun’s sides. Jun was so strung out, body tense and neck veins popping, and Sho just kissed every patch of skin he could see, lingering for a moment when he found a beauty mark he hadn’t seen the night before.  
  
When he reached Jun’s ear, he nipped at the earlobe lightly. “You’re so perfect and you’re doing very well, but I need you to do one last thing for me.” He gripped Jun’s chin, thumb skimming across his bottom lip and the mole under it.  
  
When Jun nodded, Sho continued, “I want you to come only when I say so.” He pressed a kiss to the corner of Jun’s mouth, ignoring their mutual morning breath. “And when I say so, I want you to come as loudly as you can. I want to hear you. Can you do that for me?”  
  
Jun gave him a curt nod, but it was enough. Sho dropped a quick kiss to Jun’s sweaty forehead before positioning his mouth over Jun’s cock once more. He flicked his tongue teasingly at the tip, delighting in Jun’s sharp inhale, before blowing cool air against the heated skin.  
  
Jun’s head thumped back against the pillows, the sheets bunched tightly in his fists. Sho repeated the motion, committing the sight of Jun so worked up in memory. He settled for getting Jun fully hard again, ducking down until the tip of Jun’s dick reached his throat and he nearly gagged. He pulled away to flex his jaw before doing it again, this time letting go of his hold on Jun’s hip to allow Jun to thrust into his mouth.  
  
Jun’s hips matched his rhythm, and soon Sho only had to keep his head still as Jun chased after his own pleasure, something Sho had denied twice moments ago. He choked a few times when Jun’s thrusts became sharp and needy but he held on, letting Jun dictate the pace.  
  
Soon Jun was saying his name repeatedly in warning, his hips trying to slow down to no avail, his heels digging deeply into the futon at Sho’s sides. Sho held on to Jun’s hips to keep him still, waiting until Jun was able to stop himself from fucking his mouth.  
  
Sho tentatively swirled his tongue at the leaking tip and Jun hissed as a reaction.  
  
“We do this your way, Jun,” he said, smiling at Jun being confused and blinking at him. “I know what I asked for, but we do this your way. I want you to count back down from ten, and when you reach zero, I want to hear it.”  
  
He hovered over Jun’s swollen cock. “Begin.”  
  
“Ten,” came Jun’s shaky voice, and Sho wrapped his lips around the length and began to suckle at it slowly.  
  
Jun’s thighs shook around him, but Sho heard the huff of “nine” that made him speed up.  
  
Sho’s answer to Jun’s choked groan of “eight” was to hum around Jun’s cock in his mouth, and Jun’s knees visibly trembled.  
  
“Seven” had Jun gasping and arching off the futon as Sho tilted his head to swallow the entirety of Jun’s cock. Jun’s chest was heaving as he sucked in lungfuls of air, holding back despite Sho’s efforts to make him come just because Sho had asked.  
  
Jun looked utterly perfect in this moment and Sho stomped down the urge to not tell Jun a thing after.  
  
When Jun got to “six”, Sho began massaging his balls, rolling them on his palms as Jun fought back the temptation to let go. Jun’s bottom lip was red from all the biting he’d done to it, his eyes welded shut as he tried to hold back his moans.  
  
Sho broke away from Jun’s cock to move down and open his mouth wide, sucking at one of Jun’s balls as his hand continued to pump Jun’s hard and thick length. Jun’s cock twitched in his hands as Jun breathed out a shaky “five”, and Sho rewarded him by running his thumb over the head and smearing precome before twisting his wrist.  
  
“Fuck, Sho—” was the next thing he heard, he let one of Jun’s balls slip from his mouth to click his tongue.  
  
“Keep going,” Sho ordered him, one hand fondling Jun while the other pumped him quickly, using his spit as lube. “You’re doing so well.”  
  
Jun had to swallow a lump in his throat before Sho heard the breathless whisper of “four”, and he followed the vein on the shaft with his tongue before planting a noisy kiss at the tip. He felt Jun shudder around him as Jun’s cock gave another twitch, and Sho knew he was so, so close.  
  
“Three,” Jun breathed, chest heaving and cock leaking. Sho massaged the insides of his thighs while he licked around the length, swirling his tongue at the junction where the head met the shaft.  
  
Jun groaned and he let out a whimper of “two” that had Sho take him into his mouth, going slow for Jun to feel the softest scrap of his teeth against the flesh as he went deeper, flattening his tongue so he could accommodate more of Jun with each effortless glide.  
  
Jun was making all sorts of noises now, punctuated by hissing intakes of air that made Sho’s blood boil and head south. He’d been half-hard the moment Jun began counting, but he ignored the growing need to attend to himself just so he could watch Jun unravel before him.  
  
“One,” Jun moaned, back arching and throat bared, face creased in pleasure. Sho didn’t hold back anymore, hollowing his cheeks till he felt Jun’s balls tense in his hand.  
  
Jun’s zero was a loud, uninhibited moan of Sho’s name, the sound of which went straight to Sho’s cock. Sho didn’t pull away as Jun finally let go, coming so hard that Sho had to pull back a little just to take it all. He stroked Jun through it, humming as Jun’s cock kept twitching inside his mouth.  
  
Sho pulled away to swallow everything, and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before finally dropping a parting kiss to the head of Jun’s softening cock. Jun lay panting on the futon, his bottom lip so swollen that Sho couldn’t resist sliding over his body to plant another kiss there.  
  
“What,” Jun huffed, cheeks glowing in a healthy pink tinge. Sho simply skimmed his fingers over Jun’s sweaty forehead, playing with the strands of hair stuck there. He stroked Jun’s face, fingers skimming over the slight stubble forming on Jun’s chin. “What was that just now?”  
  
Sho was suddenly self-conscious. “Did you hate it?”  
  
“No,” Jun denied quickly, breath still coming out in gasps. “No, that’s not what I meant. If I hated it, I would have demanded you to stop right away.” Jun kissed his cheek. “But what brought that on?”  
  
“I have to tell you something,” Sho said, finding that he couldn’t lie nor keep it to himself any longer.  
  
They both froze when they heard Nino’s voice and his knocks at the other door. “I’m leaving your breakfast here at the corridor and putting on earplugs next time,” Nino declared loudly, and Sho blushed. They heard Nino’s loud footsteps stomping away, and Sho knew the moment had passed.  
  
“Let’s not keep the food waiting,” Sho muttered, moving away from Jun to grab Jun’s yukata and help him put it on. He handed Jun the sash and turned to leave, but Jun’s hand grabbed his sleeve.  
  
“We’ll talk about it later, all right?” Sho said before Jun could open his mouth. He flashed Jun a small smile and stroked Jun’s chin with his thumb. “Come on.”  
  
He headed outside first, opening the sliding doors quickly to grab the trays of food Nino had left at the corridor and bringing them inside. He set the table and put down bowls of white rice and nikujaga. He poured green tea for him and Jun and waited for Jun to take a seat across him.  
  
Jun joined him, sitting down with a gracefulness that Sho would never be able to exhibit. The tips of Jun’s shoulders were still prominent under his yukata and Sho willed himself to look at the food before him so he wouldn’t try to jump Jun any moment soon.  
  
Jun didn’t push the topic, instead indulging Sho on whatever Sho wanted to talk about, though there wasn’t a lot. Sho had been speechless at the sight of Jun before but the sight of Jun the morning after was something that left him trailing off more frequently than usual.  
  
Sho wondered if he’d ever stop feeling this way.  
  
He hoped not, because even if Jun could turn him to an illiterate he still had the opportunity to see Jun like this. Jun’s messy bed hair matched his eyes and there was slight flush to his prominent cheekbones. He had a shy smile on his face, though his mouth was reddened and was a fine contrast to the pale column of his neck.  
  
Sho caught Jun smiling at him when he realized he’d been staring.  
  
“Are you going somewhere today?” Jun asked him, his shy smile turning sly at Sho gaping and making him appear more attractive to Sho’s eyes.  
  
Sho remembered that he still hadn’t bought Maki-chan’s requested coffee so he nodded. “Additional souvenirs,” he explained over a mouthful of white rice. “For those who didn’t want sake. You?”  
  
Jun hummed thoughtfully. “I think I’m going to check out the other pools in this place. Didn’t get the chance to last night.”  
  
Sho thought it best not comment about that. He simply nodded. “Anything you want me to get?”  
  
Jun shook his head. “I’m good, Sho-san. But thank you for offering.”  
  
Sho turned back to his food without another word, pushing the thought of telling Jun about the vacancy at the back of his mind. He could tell Jun after he came back from shopping, he supposed. And he was probably going to take too long seeing as he intended to give everyone in the Tokyo office something from Nagano.  
  
They finished breakfast in companionable silence, and Sho focused on his shopping list instead, trying to think of what he could get his colleagues, especially someone as quirky as Maru.  
  
He took a bath after Jun, though he was surprised to find Jun still in the room when he emerged out. Sho was already dressed, having gotten used to doing that in the bathroom out of respect for his roommate, and he tried not to blush when he saw Jun holding his bucket hat in his hands.  
  
Jun stepped forward to put the hat on him, adjusting it to perfection.  
  
“There,” Jun said, stepping back with his head tilted. “You don’t really have to fold the brim up, you know.”  
  
“I don’t?” Sho asked, truly not knowing that.  
  
Jun smiled, giving him a soft peck on the lips, one that sent his heart pounding. “Have a safe trip.”  
  
Sho could only nod as Jun sported a triumphant grin on his face before walking away.  
  
\--  
  
Jun was happily soaking and relaxing in the radioactive pool when he heard footsteps shuffling behind him, making him tilt his head back to check who it was.  
  
“Oh no,” he grumbled, turning away. “Not you.”  
  
It was a cloudy afternoon and Jun had been enjoying the public pool because it was mostly empty save for three brothers and one other guy. They’d stuck far from Jun though, and Jun had been basking in his ‘me time’ when Nino showed up. Why did he have to show up?  
  
“Is that what you’re supposed to say to the guy who looked out for you last night?” Nino asked, the sound of mock hurt in his voice. Jun splashed some water on him, ignoring his pleased laugh.  
  
“Get lost, Nino, please,” Jun begged, shutting his eyes tight.  
  
“I own this place, Matsumoto. I get to go wherever I want,” Nino pointed out.  
  
“Don’t you have a business to manage?” Jun complained.  
  
“This is part of it,” Nino insisted. He actually ditched his yukata for a towel around his waist just to enter the pool and annoy Jun. He was too much like Aiba in this aspect, asking for the nitty gritty details of Jun’s exploits. “How can I run this place efficiently if I don’t know how it works?” Nino nudged him with an elbow, one that caught him on his weak spot and he squirmed as Nino chuckled. “So? Where’s my thank you? And before you deny it, please don’t bother. You guys were pretty loud last night.”  
  
Jun smacked him at the back of the head. “You were listening in?!” He was horrified, and so, so ready to give Nino’s place a feedback of zero stars out of five because the owner was a snoop.  
  
“Goodness no,” Nino denied, looking disgusted. “You think I enjoyed hearing your embarrassing sex noises, Matsumoto? I was mopping up spilled beer and sake in the other room when I heard the creaking and I realized I have to invest in thicker walls for the next renovation. I left the moment I heard you being unable to keep it to yourself.”  
  
“Why were you up at that hour?” Jun demanded, frowning at Nino’s smirking face.  
  
Nino flashed him a huge, smug grin. “Kiko-chan and her friends left around that time, leaving a huge mess behind. This place is understaffed and Haruka-chan was sleeping already so I took care of what I could. So no, I wasn’t listening in. You were loud and it’s not like I can turn off my hearing. But I left as soon as I realized that I put the right things under the correct pillow on the correct futon.”  
  
Jun splashed some water on his face as a form of revenge. “Screw you.”  
  
“You’re screwing Sho-chan already,” Nino said as he wiped his face with his hand. “And no, you’re not my type, sorry.”  
  
Jun buried his face in his hands. “I’m never going to talk about my sex life with you so you can shove it.”  
  
“I’m not asking for you to,” Nino said, looking absolutely horrified. “I just want my thank you. Just say ‘thanks Nino, you’re such a great help’ and we’re done here.”  
  
Nino was totally channeling Aiba at this moment and Jun couldn’t believe his luck when it came to people. He thought he left Aiba in Tokyo but all he did was to go to a replacement, to the other half.  
  
“Or if you don’t say it, I can always ask for it from Sho-chan,” Nino said.  
  
“You will not,” Jun told him sternly, splashing some more water on him when he laughed. “Wait, did you tell him about this?”  
  
“Well he knows you’re loud,” Nino informed him, having that fake thoughtful look on his face. “And speaking of loud, Jun-kun, I’m totally buying earplugs after what I heard this morning. Just…no. I think I’ll live longer.”  
  
Sho had known that Nino had heard them, and he still demanded Jun to come as loudly as he could? Jun’s roommate had quite a kinky side to him apart from the commanding persona he had assumed when he prevented Jun from coming till he said so, and Jun was excited to know what else was Sho into.  
  
Nino was leering at him now, and Jun shook his head. Thinking about Sho right now wasn’t helping.  
  
“Are you going to leave if you get your thank you?” Jun asked, narrowing his eyes as Nino’s smirk grew wider. It was very Aiba-like.  
  
“I still have to help Oh-chan to stock up the refrigerator after this. And after that I have to deal with the laundry and the sheets…” Nino shot him a pointed look at that, something Jun tried not to be flustered about. “I still have a lot of work to do, actually, so yes, I believe I will.” Nino tilted his head in expectation.  
  
Jun leveled him a glare as he said the words, inwardly cringing at conceding this round to Nino. “Thank you, Nino. You’re such a great help.” He made sure the sarcasm in his voice was rich enough, but Nino only laughed.  
  
Nino shot him a salute, already wading away to the edge of the pool.  
  
“You really just came for that?” Jun asked, an eyebrow raised.  
  
Nino was wrapping a towel around his form the next time he spoke. “Actually, I was going to ask you about the vacancy. I asked Sho-chan to tell you, but I missed him when I got back from the market.” Nino faced him, hands on his hips. “I’m assuming you’re not interested?”  
  
Jun stared at Nino for a few moments, processing what he’d just heard. Was this what Sho was about to tell him a while ago, that there was now a vacancy in the inn and if Jun wanted it, he could have a room to himself?  
  
Why didn’t Sho say anything before he left for souvenir shopping?  
  
“Jun-kun?” he heard Nino ask after he had gone silent.  
  
“No,” Jun decided, earning Nino’s knowing grin. “No, I won’t be taking it.”  
  
“I knew you’d say that but I figured I’d still ask.” Nino started to walk back towards the inn, waving his hand in farewell. “Try the alkaline one next. The temperature is not too far from this one and wouldn’t cause a sudden drop in blood pressure.”  
  
Jun only nodded, watching Nino walk away. He leaned back against a rock as soon as he was alone again, thinking about why Sho had postponed telling him. He had an inkling as to the reason and it made him happy, but he also wanted to hear it from Sho personally. Nino hadn’t known so he wasn’t to blame.  
  
Jun wanted an explanation and told himself he was going to get it as soon as Sho came back.  
  
To pass the time, he ended up trying all the pools successively, only leaving when his fingers got pruny. He had dinner with Ohno in the kitchen since Sho had told him before leaving that he was going to try this ramen place, somewhere his coworker had recommended to him.  
  
Later in the evening he went back to their room only to find it empty, and he busied himself with looking at the photos he’d taken for Aiba and deleting the ones that were blurry and out of focus. He didn’t notice how much time had passed when the door finally slid to reveal Sho, his cheeks puffy from the cold and his face sporting this tired but pleased grin that made Jun feel warm despite the weather in Hakuba.  
  
“I got you something,” Sho declared proudly, even if he was still setting down this plastic bag that had boxes of what Jun assumed to be coffee.  
  
He waited patiently as Sho fumbled with the many things he bought, till he was finally able to unearth a camouflage scarf. He presented it to Jun with a huge grin that lit up his whole face.  
  
“Thanks,” Jun said, running his fingers over the material. It was finally woven, something that must have cost Sho a lot, and despite Jun never really wearing things in such a pattern, he couldn’t say no. It was difficult to when Sho was smiling at him like that.  
  
“Let’s see if it suits you,” Sho coaxed, and Jun let out a soft sigh that ended up in a smile as he moved to get up, to allow Sho to put it around his neck.  
  
“I don’t really suit camo, do I?” Jun asked when Sho was done and still wasn’t saying anything, only looking at Jun.  
  
Sho shook his head. “I was just thinking it suits you better than me and I was wondering how is that possible.”  
  
Jun chuckled. “Maybe because you wear too much camo.”  
  
“Someone told me they don’t find me uncool at all despite that though,” Sho bragged as he turned away to remove his hat. Jun watched him run his fingers through his hair repeatedly, messing it up a little.  
  
“Thank you again,” Jun said sincerely, removing the scarf from his neck and going back to the low table. He let the sounds of Sho fixing his souvenirs and luggage calm him as he carefully picked the photos Aiba could use for his future flyers and digital posters.  
  
Sho eventually joined him after removing his winter jacket and bringing two cans of Kirin that Haruka-chan had delivered. Jun waited until his beer was half empty before getting to the point.  
  
“What were you going to tell me earlier?” was what he went for, not wanting to be presumptive.  
  
He saw Sho freeze at the question before Sho took a huge gulp from his Kirin.  
  
When Sho met his eyes, Jun couldn’t really name the look he saw there. “Nino told me about a vacancy and wanted me to ask if you’re interested. You were still asleep when he informed me of it.”  
  
“He didn’t offer it to you?” Jun asked, curious.  
  
“He did but I said no,” Sho answered curtly, but he met Jun’s gaze evenly. “He was wondering if you’re interested in it.”  
  
Jun didn’t like the almost impersonal way Sho said it. “Do you want me to take it?”  
  
“You can if you want to. I’m not going to stop you.” Sho lifted the beer to his lips, refusing to look at him anymore.  
  
Jun shook his head, not wanting to put up with Sho’s stubbornness. “That’s not what I asked.”  
  
Sho sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment. “I can’t decide for you.”  
  
“Again, not what I asked. Do you want me gone?” He clenched his jaw for what Sho was going to say next.  
  
Sho looked a bit angry, and there was an edge in his voice when he spoke, something Jun had never heard before. “Of course not. What made you think that? Of course I want you here, but you have to understand that I can’t force you to stay and I never will. So if you want to take it, go ahead.”  
  
Jun studied Sho’s face, the slight frown he had as he’d explained, the conflict evident on his round face. Something inside him clenched when he realized he’d been the cause of such an expression.  
  
He sighed, taking one long drink from his Kirin until he finished it. “I already refused,” he muttered as he crushed the empty beer can in his fist.  
  
Sho seemed confused and bewildered. “You…you knew?”  
  
“Nino joined me in one of the pools earlier. He thought you already asked me and inquired about the answer himself since you weren’t here anymore when he got back from shopping.” Jun stared right at Sho. “I said I wasn’t interested.”  
  
Sho averted his eyes, like he was ashamed he’d kept it from Jun. “I was going to tell you after…” He tilted his head awkwardly and trailed off, and Jun smiled, deciding that a little revenge was in order since Sho had kept things from him.  
  
“After you woke me up with a blowjob and didn’t allow me to come until I was close to screaming your name?” he finished for Sho, grinning wider when Sho became so flustered and his cheeks turned so red.  
  
“That,” Sho said, pointedly not looking at him and hiding half of his face behind his can of beer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep it a secret. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”  
  
Jun couldn’t look away from him, couldn’t help adoring him in this particular moment. “How come?”  
  
“I didn’t want you to think I was making you leave,” Sho explained, still refusing to look at him. “Because I didn’t want you to go. I still don’t.”  
  
Jun balanced his weight on one hand over the table and reached out to pry the Kirin away from Sho’s hand, setting it down. He gripped Sho’s chin, tipping it upwards for their eyes to meet.  
  
“Just your luck, Sakurai-san,” he said, intentionally keeping his voice gravelly. “I’m a little hard to get rid of.”  
  
He stood up and rounded the table, impatiently pulling Sho up by grabbing his shirt. When Sho rose to his full height, Jun backed him against the nearest wall. Sho made this gasp of surprise that Jun wanted to hear again and again.  
  
“I wanted to do this last night,” Jun admitted, breathing in Sho’s space.  
  
Sho’s hands settled on his hips before moving to undo the sash of his yukata. “What? Slam me against the wall and just talk?” Sho’s voice was deep now, matching Jun’s. “I kind of expected more.”  
  
Jun grinned, hands moving down to grab Sho’s ass in his jeans. “Tell me your expectations and I'll see if I can make them happen.”  
  
“Is that your travel agent side talking, Matsumoto-san?” Sho teased, wetting his lips as he began rolling his hips against Jun’s.  
  
Jun took a deep breath and pressed closer, hands squeezing Sho’s ass. “Don’t keep me waiting.”  
  
He planted kisses on Sho’s neck as soon as Sho started talking, taking his time to taste the skin as Sho’s voice rang in his ears. “I kept things from you, Jun. So I expected you to grab my face and just kiss me before I can say another word.”  
  
Jun hummed, sucking at Sho’s jawline. He could feel Sho’s pulse quickening under his lips. “What else?”  
  
“You to shove me and undress me and complain under your breath about my clothes being in the way,” Sho continued despite his breaths growing heavier.  
  
Jun placed his mouth on Sho’s earlobe and bit at the soft flesh teasingly. “Then?”  
  
“You to scratch your nails against my stomach as you kiss your way down my chest.” Sho’s voice was getting shaky as Jun moved back down, now licking and sucking at the ridges formed by Sho’s throat.  
  
“Sounds very tempting. Anything else?” he prompted while he busied his hands with unbuckling Sho’s belt and pulling it free to discard it on the floor. He hooked his fingers on Sho’s belt loops to pull the other man flush against him, tilting his head so his lips would land on Sho’s neck.  
  
“You to take me in your hand and ask me what I want,” Sho muttered, just as Jun’s fingers crept past the hem of his faded Keio shirt to trace over his abs.  
  
Jun moved his mouth to Sho’s Adam’s apple, sucking at it and feeling it bob against his lips when Sho swallowed with effort. “Is that all?”  
  
“I expected you to not give in until you have me begging for it,” Sho whispered. Jun’s fingers were now teasing his nipples, running his thumb and forefinger over each bud repeatedly.  
  
“That’s very imaginative,” Jun commented, keeping voice even by concentrating hard. “Anything more?”  
  
Sho’s plump bottom lip trembled as Jun continued his ministrations on Sho’s chest, feeling Sho’s nipples harden under his touches. He withdrew his hand from Sho’s body to fist at Sho’s shirt and Sho helpfully lifted his arms, allowing Jun to discard his shirt somewhere behind him.  
  
“I—” Sho tried, but Jun ducked down to take one of Sho’s nipples between his teeth, delighting in the gasp that Sho made. “Jun—”  
  
“I asked you a question,” Jun reminded him, flicking his tongue over a pert nub.  
  
“I expected you to eventually hoist me up and—” Sho hissed when Jun pinched both of his nipples lightly, his tongue now on Sho’s breastbone.  
  
“And then what?” Jun asked, mouth traveling lower till he was on his knees and licking around Sho’s navel. “What did you think I was going to do?”  
  
Sho looked down at him, pupils so dark that Jun licked his lips at the sight of them. “I honestly thought you were just going to fuck me against the wall as soon as I told you about the offer and you knew that I kept it from you.”  
  
Jun nipped at Sho’s bellybutton for a while, curious about the markings of a former piercing but putting the question off for another time. He stood, bringing himself back to Sho's level. He placed both hands on the wall Sho was resting his head against.  
  
“Go get the lube,” he growled against Sho’s ear, “and come back only when you’ve lost those pants.”  
  
“Was I right with my final expectation?” Sho asked when Jun stepped away to allow him to move.  
  
“We’ll see.” Jun grinned, delivering a gentle slap on Sho’s ass. “Get moving.”  
  
Sho did, heading for their shared quarters just as Jun shrugged off his yukata, leaving it as a messy pile on the floor. He couldn’t stop grinning, thinking that he was really lucky to have Sho and Sho’s openness when it came to sex. For a moment he thought Sho wouldn’t be so crude, wouldn’t elaborate. And then Sho proved him wrong by answering his question thoroughly and concisely in the very Sho way Jun had come to know.  
  
Sho was indirectly asking to be taught a lesson just because he neglected to mention Nino’s offer, and the idea of that made Jun crave, blood rushing to his cock.  
  
Jun couldn’t wait to do things to him.  
  
Sho returned, gloriously naked and shamelessly hard, the lube and the strip of condoms in his hands. Jun grabbed both of his wrists to push him flat against the wall before taking the items from him, and he finally did what Sho first expected him to do.  
  
He kissed Sho hard, cupping his jaw so he could pry Sho’s mouth open with his thumb. Sho’s hands went up to his back, tracing his shoulder blades possessively as he kissed back. Jun broke off to plant quick pecks all over Sho’s face till he reached Sho’s ear.  
  
“Turn around,” he whispered, and Sho complied quickly, bracing himself against the wall.  
  
Jun rained kisses along the angle of his shoulder, letting his lips form a path down the expanse of Sho’s back, his hands tracing Sho’s sides repeatedly as he continued kissing his way down. Sho’s dorsal muscles rippled each time his lips touched the skin, body writhing at the attention. Jun traced every dip and ridge formed by Sho’s spine with his tongue and he heard Sho gasp as a reaction.  
  
Jun tore off one condom packet, tossing the rest on the floor to join their discarded clothing. He put it next to Sho’s mouth before whispering, “If you drop this, nothing’s happening tonight.”  
  
Sho’s eyes widened fractionally before he closed his teeth over the foil packet, the only sign of agreement Jun was going to obtain from him. Jun pulled back just a little to admire the sight of Sho anticipating what he was going to do.  
  
“Did you purposely put off telling me about the vacancy?” Jun asked, his voice low. “If you mean yes, nod.”  
  
Sho nodded, mouth still closed over the condom wrapper.  
  
Jun hummed, running his fingers over the small of Sho’s back and delighting in Sho squirming as a reaction. “Are you sorry?”  
  
Sho nodded again, and Jun slid his palm down over the cleft of Sho’s ass. He put his lips right next to Sho’s ear. “If I spank you, would you like that?”  
  
Sho’s eyes fluttered shut at the question, and Jun waited in combined anxiety and thrill. Sho pushed back against Jun’s palm and looked over his shoulder before giving a nod.  
  
Jun licked the shell of his ear, unable to keep himself from smiling. His kinky tour guide slash roommate knew what he wanted, all right. It was only natural, Jun reasoned, to give it to him.  
  
“Hold this.” He handed Sho the tube of lube, and Sho took it before bracing himself against the wall again. “If you drop that, I’ll stop.” He kissed Sho’s shoulder once, and Sho nodded again.  
  
Jun kneaded Sho’s ass cheeks first as a form of warning. He delivered a light smack on the swell of Sho’s ass, not enough to hurt but enough for Sho to know that he was going to start.  
  
He looked up and only saw Sho nodding his assent, and Jun used the back of his hand to land a sharp slap on the same spot. Sho’s body shivered and he made a muffled yelp, but when Jun looked up, Sho was clutching the tube tightly in his fist, a blissful look on his flushed face.  
  
Jun kept his eyes on Sho’s clenched fist as he delivered one slap after another, the skin of Sho’s ass warming to the touch. Sho’s body jerked with each smack but he didn’t let go of the lube, instead pushing back as if he needed more.  
  
“You kept it from me?” Jun asked, smacking Sho again, hearing Sho inhale sharply through clenched teeth.  
  
Sho just nodded fiercely, eyes shut, the lube still in his grip.  
  
Jun spanked him again. “Even when Nino told you to ask me?”  
  
With Sho’s nod, Jun landed another loud slap.  
  
"Doesn't that make you naughty?" Jun asked, spanking the same ass cheek again.  
  
Sho nodded, and Jun delivered a backhanded slap this time. He hissed at the same time Sho did, and he caught Sho's knees shaking in an effort to remain upright.  
  
“Are you sorry?” Jun asked again, and when Sho nodded, he delivered three successive blows at the heated flesh.  
  
Jun raked his nails lightly over the reddened skin and Sho took deep breaths, his spine curving. Jun stepped back a little to admire his handiwork: the uneven color on Sho’s ass, the way his handprints bloomed into bright red in contrast to Sho’s tanned skin.  
  
Jun flexed and extended his fingers before landing a loud smack on Sho’s other ass cheek, the sound cracking in the room.  
  
"You think I already forgot about you keeping things from me?" he asked, landing another sharp slap that made Sho arch.  
  
Sho shook his head but pushed back against Jun’s palm, the tube still in his clenched fist, and Jun spanked him again. “You think you’re off the hook now?”  
  
Another shake of Sho’s head and Jun answered it with a loud smack right on the cleft of Sho’s ass. Sho threw his head back, a stifled groan escaping his lips, and Jun just kept going, spanking him till his ass was red and hot.  
  
Sho was rapidly falling apart, trying to push back and find friction on his cock at the same time, making muffled whimpers once in a while. Jun rubbed his palms against the heated flesh of Sho’s ass, squeezing lightly, liking how they felt to the touch. Sho was trembling but he maintained his stance, presenting his ass like he wanted more of whatever Jun had in store for him.  
  
When Jun checked, Sho was clutching the tube. He grabbed a handful of Sho’s hair, exposing his neck.  
  
“Do you want to be fucked?” Jun whispered, mouth hovering on Sho’s shoulder.  
  
Sho nodded repeatedly, punctuating each with a push of his ass towards Jun’s hips, and Jun delivered two blows on each cheek, admiring their warmth and redness underneath his palms.  
  
“You’re not getting off that easy.” He slapped Sho’s ass again, and although it wasn’t as strong as his previous blows, Sho’s body still trembled, his cock jutting and leaking when Jun hovered over his shoulder to check.  
  
The sight of Sho so keen, bordering on impatient, made Jun plant kisses on his shoulder. One of Jun’s hands moved to cover Sho’s, taking the lube from him to coat each of his finger copiously, and Sho groaned between gritted teeth, a sound that went straight to Jun’s dick.  
  
Jun sucked on Sho’s earlobe, causing Sho to shiver. “Do you want me to fuck you?”  
  
Sho’s eyes remained shut but he nodded repeatedly, muffled whimpers escaping from his closed mouth, and that was answer enough.  
  
He nipped at the tip of Sho’s shoulder and reached down, tracing Sho’s hole before pushing one finger in. Sho visibly trembled, his forehead pressed against the wall as Jun went slow, letting Sho become sufficiently adjusted to the stretch.  
  
He ran kisses across Sho’s shoulder up to his nape, inhaling Sho’s scent. Sho couldn’t make a sound with his teeth firmly closed over the condom packet and his hands were tightly clenched into fists as though he could grab the wall to keep himself afloat. Jun continued to lavish him with attention, to tease him just to see him gradually come apart.  
  
Jun inserted another finger without warning and Sho thumped his head repeatedly against his forearm as a reaction. Jun began scissoring slowly, Sho’s sharp intakes of breath his only indication that he was enjoying this. Jun craned his neck, putting his mouth right next to Sho’s earlobe.  
  
“I want you to keep your hands on the wall no matter what happens.” He kissed Sho’s neck after Sho nodded. His other hand held on to Sho’s hip as he leaned back to watch his fingers disappear into Sho’s ass, the tight heat of Sho’s body sucking him in.  
  
Jun relented when Sho clenched around him and bucked back, adding more lube to his fingers before pushing the third one in. Sho’s back arched as a reaction, his back muscles moving accordingly. Sho was now trapped in combined pleasure and frustration, because while Jun was now fucking him with three fingers, Jun was still deliberately avoiding his prostate.  
  
Sho was pushing his ass back, desperate and needy, and Jun only shushed him, pressing reassuring kisses to the curve of his shoulder as he stroked circles around Sho’s hipbone with his other hand.  
  
When Sho turned his head to glare at him, Jun finally crooked his fingers and stroked the little bump that sent Sho to a muffled groan, his lips still closed tightly around the condom wrapper just like Jun had asked.  
  
Jun decided to be a little underhanded just to see how long Sho would last. He asked Sho to hold the lube for him again as he continued fucking Sho, the slick sounds created by his fingers pistoning in and out of Sho’s hole making his cock twitch in excitement. He licked long lines on his other hand, getting it sufficiently wet before snaking around Sho’s waist to pump Sho’s cock.  
  
Sho let out a muffled whimper, his face mashed on the crook of his elbow as his thrusted into Jun’s hand, needing more friction. Jun let him, although he only circled his hand loosely on Sho’s length, not really providing Sho the friction he needed.  
  
The muscles of Sho’s arms and back were taut and strained in an obvious effort to keep himself together, and Jun kissed along his back as he finally withdrew his fingers, keeping his hands on Sho’s hips.  
  
Jun grabbed a handful of Sho’s hair to expose his neck, planting a quick kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Sho-san,” he said, finally taking the condom wrapper from Sho and tearing it open with his teeth.  
  
He kept his lips close to Sho’s ear as he rolled it onto himself. He pried the lube away from Sho’s hand and slicked himself up, and he dropped the tube on the floor as he aligned the head of his cock to Sho’s hole. Jun braced himself by holding on to Sho’s shoulder and Sho’s hip, and he pushed inside without another word, burying himself deep in one smooth thrust.  
  
He buried his face against Sho’s shoulder as he waited for Sho to adjust, biting on the skin there to prevent himself from thrusting into Sho mindlessly because Sho was so tight and hot and felt too good around him.  
  
They stayed like that for a few moments, with Sho’s hissing intakes of oxygen ringing in Jun’s ears until Sho turned his head. Jun looked up, their eyes meeting.  
  
“Move,” Sho demanded, and Jun spanked his ass once before pulling out and slamming back in, muffling his pleased groan on Sho’s neck.  
  
He kept his hands on Sho’s hips as he thrusted back into the blinding heat of Sho’s body, panting hard against Sho’s sweaty skin. Sho was crying out every time Jun fucked into him, his face buried in the crook of his elbow as he pushed back, meeting Jun’s movements halfway.  
  
The room was filled with sounds of Jun’s hips smacking repeatedly against Sho’s ass followed by quick huffs of breath and drawn out moans. Jun was grunting in pleasure now, his mouth still attached to Sho’s skin, savoring the scent and taste of Sho as he shifted a little to change his angle.  
  
Doing so sent Sho to a hitched sob, his inner muscles clenching around Jun and making Jun see white, his hips rolling faster in response.  
  
“Spank me,” Sho pleaded each time their bodies met, and Jun did, hissing at the warmth around his cock and the one spreading on his palm as he delivered one loud smack after another. “I was selfish and bad, Jun. More. Please.”  
  
Jun cursed, knowing that Sho was asking partly because he knew what effect it had. Jun could hear Sho half-groaning and half-laughing with each please he uttered, his satisfaction at getting what he wanted and at managing to rile Jun up.  
  
“Fuck you,” Jun gritted, but he kept raining blows on Sho’s ass with each thrust anyway, until Sho could no longer say a damn thing and only moan, the sound muffled on his forearm.  
  
Hips stuttering, Jun pulled Sho to him again and again. He placed his hands on top of Sho’s on the wall, allowing them to align their bodies completely as they moved together, harder and faster and increasingly desperate.  
  
“Jun,” Sho kept whimpering, out of breath and so needy. Jun snaked his arm around Sho’s waist and pumped his dick in rhythm with his thrusts, finally giving him what he needed. Sho was close and Jun just yanked his body back as his hand went faster, stroking and squeezing until he heard Sho’s breath hitch.  
  
“Go,” Jun husked against Sho’s ear, hand and hips relentless. He squeezed Sho’s cock and landed one last sharp slap on Sho’s ass, and Sho trembled, letting out a guttural moan as he climaxed in thick, ropey bursts, dirtying the wall before him.  
  
Jun snapped his hips a few more times—hard, sharp thrusts that made Sho breathe sharply through his nose—before finally coming, muffling his grunts on the back of Sho’s neck. Panting hard from exhaustion and heartbeat racing, he wrapped his arms around Sho’s body and peppered kisses along his nape and shoulder blades as he waited for his body to come back down.  
  
“How was that compared to your expectations?” Jun asked when he could finally get some words out, his earlier euphoria beginning to ebb away. He didn’t move though, contented with embracing Sho for just a while longer, his sweaty chest tightly pressed against Sho’s back.  
  
Sho let out a breathless laugh, tilting his head back to press against Jun’s. “Better.”  
  
Of course it was, Jun thought with a smile.  
  
"Come on," Jun coaxed, kissing Sho’s temple. "Let's get you cleaned up."


	6. Chapter 6

It was to the sound of his alarm that Sho woke up to, feeling Jun’s toned stomach right under his fingertips. Jun jerked and rolled to the side, grabbing a pillow to cover his head while Sho reached over to turn the device off.  
  
Sho pressed a quick kiss to Jun’s bicep and sat up. Two nights of sleeping with Jun and waking up beside him in the mornings—it had been perfect.  
  
“Good morning,” he said, despite knowing Jun would only grunt in response and try to get more sleep.  
  
Jun did exactly that and Sho grinned. He checked his phone for emails and messages, ignoring the sudden drop he felt in his stomach when he realized it was his last day in Hakuba. Nino’s onsen policies required for him and Jun to vacate the room before lunchtime, giving Sho almost six hours to pack his luggage.  
  
He glanced at Jun who was still sleeping, his back turned to Sho and breathing even. Sho had intended to return to Tokyo via taxi, but he was seriously considering taking the Azusa with Jun. Despite the taxi ride being faster, riding on the train would mean five more hours in Jun’s company, and Sho didn’t really find anything wrong with that.  
  
He left the room to find some clothes, picking up his discarded jeans and shirt from the floor and quickly putting them on. He headed out to the front desk to ask about the contact information of the train station.  
  
Instead of Nino, however, he found Haruka, who kept yawning even when she tried to greet Sho a good morning. “Anything I can help you with?” she asked, even if she had to clamp a hand over her mouth as she yawned again.  
  
Sho asked for a directory of all establishments and services in the area, and he watched her with an amused expression as she sleepily dug through the different drawers of the desk. It took her a while, but she was able to hand over a clearbook directory, something Sho took after expressing his thanks.  
  
He moved to the lounge to make the necessary call, wondering if he was being presumptive as he bought himself a ticket. He knew Jun was leaving for Shinjuku around half past two because Jun had said so the night before, but when he’d expected Jun to ask him to take the train, Jun didn’t.  
  
He still had no idea if Jun would be willing to continue what they’d both found here in Hakuba and Sho didn’t really want to presume. He could be daring when it came to the intimacy he and Jun shared, but this was something else. Sho was never the type to demand something; he let people do whatever they wanted because he respected their ability to decide for themselves. He didn’t want to dictate anything.  
  
The operator he was speaking to told him that the train he’d specified would arrive in Hakuba at 2:38PM today, and he thanked her for the services. He returned the clearbook to the front desk and Haruka told him that today’s breakfast would be potato salad and miso because “Nino finally bought potatoes after a week of not listening to me”, something Sho laughed at.  
  
He quietly returned to their room after, a little surprised when he saw Jun sitting on the tatami and doing stretches. Jun had always been flexible, something Sho really enjoyed getting proof of, but this was the first time he saw Jun bending his body in ways that didn’t include Sho in any way.  
  
“Hello,” Sho greeted a bit awkwardly, trying not to be too flustered when Jun looked at him over his shoulder, his hair falling over his eyes.  
  
“Hey,” Jun said, standing gracefully, leaving Sho dumbfounded how he did it every time. “We have until lunch, right?”  
  
Sho didn’t know if Jun was referring to the time they have left before they were supposed to vacate or the time they have left together. He scratched his cheek awkwardly, unable to look at Jun.  
  
“Sho-kun?” Jun asked, concern in his voice.  
  
“I’m taking the train,” Sho blurted out, looking at his feet. “I…I’ve tried the taxi before and I’d really like to try out something new so…uh.” He lifted his head, seeing Jun with a small smile on his face. “That is, if you don’t mind five more hours with me.”  
  
“I don’t mind.” Jun’s face broke into a full grin. “But I have to warn you, you can get a crick in the neck and your ass is going to hurt from all the sitting.”  
  
Honestly, Sho's ass was still a bit sore from the night they had despite Jun's efforts. After Jun had ushered him in the shower, Jun had tended to him with a gentleness that made him blush, massaging his aching muscles and applying lotion on the reddened skin. There had been kisses lost to his hair as Jun soothed the pain away, his lithe fingers pressing lightly on the stinging flesh, over and over, careful with every caress.  
  
It made Sho fall for him all the more, witnessing for himself how doting and affectionate Jun could be.  
  
Jun stepped close, something akin to uncertainty in his eyes. “Actually I was going to ask you something.”  
  
Sho blinked, clearly not prepared for something like this. “Go ahead.”  
  
Jun took one of his hands in his, thumb rubbing circles on his knuckles. Jun worried his lip in thought, and Sho waited in a mixture of anxiety and exhilaration. Jun let out a tiny laugh. “I haven’t done this in so long and I don’t remember how it should go but…when we get to Tokyo, do you…well, would you mind if we continue seeing each other? I’m not expecting anything, but I want to see you. After this. Even after this. Only if you want to, of course.”  
  
Sho squeezed his hand, unable to keep himself from smiling. Jun had just asked him out. Meaning this wouldn’t end here in Hakuba, and Sho was seriously thrilled about that. “I work in Itabashi,” Sho told him. “I mean that’s where our office is.”  
  
“Kabukicho,” Jun replied, answering his unasked question. “I understand that we both have a lot of work that piled up because of this trip so I won’t make any promises.”  
  
Sho laced their fingers together, taking a step closer. “Then we deal with work first. And we’re more or less adjusted, we’ll see what happens.”  
  
Jun flashed him a tiny smile that he returned. “Okay,” Jun agreed.  
  
They let go when someone came knocking and they heard a soft “please excuse the intrusion”. The door slid open, revealing Ohno, who had this sleepy look in his eyes but a kind smile on his face.  
  
Ohno set the meal on the table (potato salad, miso, and gyoza), and Sho was about to dig in when he heard Jun ask for sauce. Ohno replied that he would come back with one shortly, and Sho looked at Jun in confusion.  
  
“What do you need that for?” he asked, blowing on his miso to cool it down.  
  
Jun gave him an equally puzzled look. “For the salad.”  
  
Sho frowned, not entirely sure of what he’d just heard. “You add sauce on potato salad? I like potato salad, but I’ve never tried that.”  
  
“In my parents’ house it’s a common practice,” Jun said, amusement in his eyes. “You should try it now.”  
  
Ohno returned then, handing Jun the bottle of sauce. He flashed them a friendly grin before leaving, and Jun handed the bottle to him.  
  
“What, is this common knowledge?” Sho asked he squirted a bit of Worcestershire on a spoonful of salad. “I’ve never heard of this practice.”  
  
“Then it’s not that common,” Jun said, already sipping his miso. “It’s really good though. Potato salad tastes better with that.”  
  
Sho tried it, unable to keep himself from blurting out how good it was the moment he tasted it. He stared at the bottle incredulously while Jun laughed at him.  
  
“Told you so,” Jun bragged, traces of his earlier amusement still on his face.  
  
“Tell me more of these things,” Sho requested, eating another spoonful of salad with sauce. “These ‘common practices’ in your house that I may not know.”  
  
Jun looked at him before nodding. “When we get to Tokyo.”  
  
“When we get to Tokyo,” Sho repeated, understanding the implication and feeling warm because of it.  
  
They finished breakfast while engaging in small talk, including the occasional praises for Ohno’s simple but tasty cooking. Sho would miss Ohno’s cooking, having gotten used to waking up with miso soup being delivered to their room for the past week. He was going to miss a lot of things in Nagano, but what he would really miss the most was sharing the same room with Jun.  
  
He and Jun had been awkward around each other the first time they’d learned of the arrangement. Had it been only nearly a week ago, Sho wondered, when Jun had eyed him with the barest hints of interest?  
  
And now Jun would look at him with his eyes full of meaning, his lips suppressing the urge to smile. Sho didn’t think much of him when they’d first met, but now he believed he had the markings around Jun’s mouth memorized. He’d kissed those marks repeatedly, liking the way Jun gave a sheepish smile every time he did.  
  
Jun was someone he found in Hakuba when he hadn’t been looking, and he was truly relieved it had been Jun who asked him out because vice versa, he was positive he would have been a complete embarrassment. He would never find the right words to tell Jun that he didn’t want this (whatever it was) to end here as soon as they left the onsen premises. Jun had the ability to make him stammer and look like an idiot, and Sho wondered if he’d ever stop feeling so nervous around Jun.  
  
On the one hand he wanted it to happen someday, because that would mean that he would have reached another stage with Jun, but on the other, the nerves only add to the thrill of being with Jun, and that was something he enjoyed too.  
  
Sho liked him. He really did, and while there was this nagging thought in his mind that this all happened way too fast, he was certain of what he was feeling. He liked Jun enough to try pursuing something with him—at least that was his plan as soon as he caught up with the pile of work he’d undoubtedly have. Jun would be the same too, and even though Sho would like to see him again once they were back in Tokyo, he also wanted to make time for Jun.  
  
He had no idea how to express these things though. He had an inkling Jun was feeling the same about everything; Jun had agreed on the ‘eliminate work pile first’ approach, after all. Sho was trying not to think too much about sleeping in his own bed in the apartment tonight, with Jun out of reach. He’d gotten so used to Jun’s presence that it would be challenging to get accustomed to a day without seeing Jun.  
  
After breakfast, Sho opted to take a bath first so he could have a bit of time to himself as he pondered on a lot of things. Mostly job-related since he’d been putting that off for quite a while, and just this morning he’d received a work email from his boss about a meeting regarding the relocation assignments. Sho knew he’d be in Tokyo for the upcoming six months, but he had no idea which tours would he be assigned to.  
  
He was just thinking about the possible complications he could encounter when the door slid open and Jun snuck in, a rather determined look in his eyes.  
  
“Did you need something?” Sho asked, a little surprised at the intrusion, holding the shower head in hand.  
  
Jun took the shower head from him and turned it off, placing it back on the arm.  
  
“Yes,” Jun answered, his voice so low, intent unmistakable. He backed Sho towards the sink, his eyes solely focused on Sho’s mouth.  
  
“I’m still sore from last night,” Sho admitted quietly, and Jun laughed. While last night had been amazing, with Jun making his fantasies come true and adding few colorful twists of his own (Sho loved that Jun had made him bite onto the condom to keep him silent), Sho was sure he’d be limping back to Tokyo if Jun fucked him now.  
  
Jun took another dangerous step closer, a glimmer in his eyes. “I always liked your honesty.”  
  
“Jun, I’m not sure this is the right place,” Sho added awkwardly, his ass hitting the edge of the marble.  
  
“You’re so cute when you try to be rational,” Jun whispered, leaning in his space. “Get your ass on that sink.”  
  
Sho complied, breath hitching when Jun placed his hands on his thighs to help him spread his legs. “Jun, what?” he asked, his voice rising a little in pitch.  
  
Jun laughed, sinking to his knees before Sho. “Just shut up and take it.”  
  
Jun ducked down without another word, bringing his tongue to Sho’s cock for the first time and Sho inhaled sharply, hand flying to his mouth to muffle his surprised moan. Jun licked him slowly, from base to tip before doing it again, Sho's cock growing heavier with each flick of his tongue. Jun flattened his tongue at the underside of Sho’s dick and followed the vein, making Sho slump back against the mirror behind him and spread his legs wider. Jun closed his lips around him and began sucking, taking Sho deep before letting out a low hum that made Sho groan.  
  
Heat pooled from the insides of Sho’s thighs to his groin, his cock twitching as Jun continued twirling his tongue in a manner that made Sho wonder why Jun was so good at this. His breath came out in desperate gasps as Jun went faster, head now bobbing between his legs. Jun pulled off with an obscene pop, licking away a thread of saliva that stuck from the tip of Sho’s cock to his bottom lip.  
  
Jun jerked him off in fast, sure strokes, and Sho looked down to find Jun watching his every reaction. Sho could only stare, mouth falling open, as Jun ran his thumb over the tip of his cock to wipe away the precome before putting his finger in his mouth and giving a little suck.  
  
Sho tried to say Jun’s name, but his throat felt completely dry.  
  
Jun licked his lips and began swirling his tongue over the head as he continued pumping Sho hard, and Sho couldn’t help lifting his hips off the sink to feel more of the promising heat of Jun’s mouth.  
  
“I thought you said this isn’t the right place?” Jun asked with a grin, the tip of Sho’s cock poking the corner of his mouth. Precome smeared on Jun’s cheek, and he darted out his tongue to remove Sho’s taste from his own skin. Jun was stroking him lazily, like Sho wasn’t so hard and heavy in his hand.  
  
“Shut up and finish what you started, all right?” Sho shot back, a little annoyed and breathless. He was so turned on that he was leaking, and Jun was clearly enjoying the view of him so eager and wanton.  
  
Jun flashed him a grin before allowing Sho’s thick length fill his mouth, shutting his eyes as he let Sho’s cock slide deeper. Sho moaned when he felt the muscles of Jun’s throat around the head, and he finally uttered a garbled version of Jun’s name when Jun’s throaty hum vibrated through his entire length.  
  
Jun was now massaging his thighs as he moved faster, swollen lips sliding up and down Sho’s cock with little effort. Sho’s legs trembled and he knew he was close, and he tried to warn Jun by tangling his hand in Jun’s hair and pulling a little at the strands.  
  
Jun’s answer to that was to bring Sho to the very back of his throat, his hands grabbing the back of Sho’s thighs to place Sho’s legs over his shoulders. Sho let out another draggy moan of Jun’s name when all he could feel was warmth around his cock, and he gripped the edge of sink, knuckles becoming white as he gave in, coming hard inside Jun’s hot mouth.  
  
His weight sagged against the mirror as Jun took it all, eyes shut tight because of the force of his orgasm. He felt boneless and sated as Jun eased his legs back down, and soon Jun was kissing his thighs, his stomach, his chest, up to the sides of his face. Sho could feel his smug smile right against his jaw.  
  
Jun stroked his cheekbone with his thumb and patted his cheek twice. “And now, you can continue your bath.”  
  
He moved to leave, but Sho managed to grab his wrist to stop him. He pulled Jun back to him, reaching down to grasp Jun’s half-hard cock.  
  
“Not so fast, Matsumoto-san,” he muttered huskily, albeit still breathing heavily. He ran his thumb teasingly over the head of Jun’s cock and gave it a tiny squeeze, and he grinned when Jun shuddered.  
  
He whispered the next words in Jun’s ear. “I take back what I said. We’re in the right place.”  
  
Jun’s answering laugh was really something Sho expected.  
  
\--  
  
When Jun was finally sated (which only happened after he and Sho had simultaneously made out as Sho gave him a handjob and whispered filthy nothings in his ear), they took a long time showering and getting clean since Sho couldn’t keep his hands to himself and would poke Jun at his sides just to laugh when Jun squirmed as a reaction.  
  
Jun, being himself, retaliated by splashing water on Sho’s face and swatting Sho’s ass lightly. It became a cycle and Jun realized this was probably why Sho had never snuck in with him in the past. Not that Jun minded much; he’d snuck inside to give Sho a blowjob while Sho had been bathing, after all.  
  
After, they dressed and moved their luggage to the lounge, finally vacating the room with thirty minutes to spare from the deadline. Sho found Ohno and engaged in a rather lively chat about Ohno’s supposed fishing trips. Jun, meanwhile, found Nino, who at first thanked him for his patronage before grinning at him in the annoying Nino way.  
  
“Give my regards to Aiba-shi,” Nino told him while they both stood at the porch to watch as the midday sun moved to hide behind the clouds.  
  
“Will do,” Jun promised.  
  
“I’ve been sending him messages via LINE, but like Oh-chan, I don’t think he knows how to use it properly. Not yet at least,” Nino said in a fake irritated tone he seemed to save for Aiba alone.  
  
Jun narrowed his eyes at the information. “Aiba-san’s going to bug me when I come back, right?”  
  
Nino only smiled. “What made you think so, Jun-kun? It’s not like I told Aiba-shi on LINE that your Hakuba trip became a booty call. It’s not as if I told him that this has got to be one of the most fulfilling trips you’ve ever had, and that’s not just talking about my splendid establishment.”  
  
Jun delivered a light slap on Nino’s arm, something Nino only laughed at. “You definitely told him,” he said, shaking his head. He could only hope Nino didn’t divulge too much.  
  
“I didn’t tell him Sho-chan’s name even though he asked me plenty of times,” Nino said, his lips twitching as he seemed to read what Jun was thinking. “All I said was it was something I heard you saying repeatedly that one night and—”  
  
Jun smacked him harder this time. “You didn’t tell him that!”  
  
“Well I guess you just have to go home and find out if I did or didn’t, yeah?” Nino said in between giggles, half of his face tucked in the crook of his elbow. “You know Aiba-shi. Guy doesn’t know shit about subtlety so really, Jun-kun, good luck. I wish I could see it. I’d be having the time of my life.”  
  
Jun looked over his shoulder, seeing Sho laughing loudly at something Ohno said. “I am now considering not inviting Aiba-san along for that karaoke night.”  
  
“Don’t chicken out,” Nino told him. “You think I’d go down to Tokyo for Sho-chan’s rap? Nah, I’m going there with Haruka-chan and Oh-chan just so we can crash at Aiba-shi’s place and make his life difficult. The karaoke only comes as a secondary reason here.”  
  
Nino stepped a little closer to him, his voice quieter the next time he spoke. “Look, I don’t think Aiba-shi’s going to scare Sho-chan away. I mean, Sho-chan’s still here despite all my teasing, and I’m way better at this than Masaki would ever be, so if that’s what you’re worried about…”  
  
Jun wasn’t really worried about Aiba and Nino scaring Sho away. He knew a couple of things about Sho that the two idiots didn’t, so he simply looked at Nino with a confident smile. “You know what, Ninomiya? When the karaoke happens, bring it on.”  
  
He knew Sho could handle himself, and together, well, they could probably take on Nino and Aiba combined no matter how clever those two seemed to be when it came to teasing people. Besides, Ohno and Haruka would be there. Those two were adept at neutralizing Nino.  
  
Nino pointed at him challengingly. “You’re on, Jun-kun. You better not forget this.”  
  
Jun met Nino’s gaze evenly. “You’re going down, Nino.”  
  
Nino only laughed, just as Sho, Ohno, and Haruka joined them.  
  
Jun checked his watch, seeing it would be best if they left now and simply waited around the station. He climbed down the steps, snow crunching under his feet when he reached the ground.  
  
“We’ll see you in Tokyo,” Sho said with a polite bow, something Ohno and Haruka returned and Nino grinned at.  
  
“Thank you for your patronage despite our lack of rooms,” Nino said.  
  
Jun dared him to say more by raising an eyebrow, but Nino simply extended out his hand to Sho. Sho took it gratefully, thanking Nino for the services, before doing the same with Haruka and Ohno.  
  
When Jun shook Nino’s hand, Nino had this soft smile on his face, far from the teasing ones Jun had seen earlier. “Out of ten, how would you rate this place?”  
  
“You ask everyone this question?” Jun wondered with a slight frown.  
  
“No, just the people whose opinion matters. I said Aiba’s friend is automatically my friend. So?”  
  
Jun looked at Sho, who was sharing a laugh with Haruka and Ohno. “Ten.”  
  
Nino seemed genuinely pleased. “No regrets about coming to Nagano?”  
  
Jun shook his head. “None.”  
  
“Then come again. I’ll prepare a bigger futon next time.”  
  
That made Jun laugh. “Okay. But you better have that futon.”  
  
The taxi they called to bring them to the station finally arrived, and he and Sho bid the staff of Ninomiya Onsen Ryokan goodbye, with Sho enthusiastically waving his hands and his smile as bright as the sun over their heads.  
  
When they got to the platform and Sho already had his ticket in hand, Jun only watched him when he whipped out his camcorder and filmed the scenery around them. There wasn’t much to see, but Jun had long discovered that Sho was the type who would put anything and everything on film so he simply sat back and let Sho be.  
  
The train heading for Shinjuku arrived after a few minutes, and Jun picked the last row of the green seat area. The train was mostly empty given that not a lot of people board Minami-Otari or Hakuba.  
  
“Window seat’s mine,” he told Sho, ignoring Sho’s pout.  
  
“How am I supposed to film the way back if you’re seated there?” Sho complained, placing his hand-carry luggage at the rack above their heads.  
  
Jun took his seat by the window and shrugged his shoulders. “Find a way.”  
  
Jun busied himself with a manga volume as Sho took a seat beside him, their elbows touching as Sho settled himself. It was a five-hour long trip back home, and Jun remembered something.  
  
“You better not snore,” he said out of the corner of his mouth, and he laughed when Sho scowled at him. “There are lots of people here, Sakurai. Not everyone is as forgiving as I am.”  
  
“Did I snore for the past two nights?” Sho asked, his camcorder and backpack perched on his lap.  
  
Jun honestly had no idea because he’d been sleeping like a rock those past two nights. He and Sho had fooled around, had great sex, and slept right after, and he’d always been exhausted enough to find rest immediately.  
  
“Ah, you’re so tired after that you can’t remember, huh?” Sho asked as he caught on to Jun’s momentary silence, a smug grin on his face. “I’m flattered, Matsumoto-san.”  
  
Jun nudged Sho with his elbow. “I’m serious about not snoring.”  
  
“I know you are,” Sho said, still grinning.  
  
“I can’t believe I put up with all your weird sleeping habits for an entire week,” Jun complained.  
  
“You’re lucky it’s winter,” Sho told him, now fiddling with his camcorder. “When summer hits and it gets too hot, I take off my clothes in my sleep.”  
  
Jun stared at him. “You do what?”  
  
Sho wouldn’t look at him now. “I often wake up naked.”  
  
Jun laughed. “Well, I think that’s a habit I’ll be more than okay with.”  
  
The train departed from Hakuba, and when they reached Shinano-Omachi, Jun felt Sho reaching for his hand. He was reading and Sho was too, only that he had a manga volume up and Sho’s eyes were glued to his phone. Jun wondered how long Sho had wanted to do that before he finally went for it.  
  
Jun entwined their fingers together, their winter coats hiding what they were doing in case any train personnel passed by. He put the manga down, tucking it at the back of the seat in front of him.  
  
He leaned back in his chair, observing Sho as Sho read silently, though his mouth was constantly moving. He had nothing but concentration in his eyes, and Jun couldn’t help admiring him for it, for the way he was so intensely focused.  
  
“Stop doing that,” Sho murmured under his breath, squeezing Jun’s hand.  
  
“Do what?” Jun asked innocently, enjoying the redness steadily creeping up to Sho’s cheeks.  
  
“I’m trying to read,” Sho said instead, his petulant tone making Jun smile.  
  
“I’m not doing anything, Sho-kun. And it’s not really my fault if you’re that easily distracted.”  
  
Sho looked around to check their surroundings. There was a couple five rows away from them, and on the other side, a mother and her teenage daughter sat three rows away.  
  
Sho suddenly leaned in to brush a kiss on his mouth, leaving him stunned. Sho pulled away and unlocked his phone like nothing had happened, going back to his reading, but there was still this flush to his cheeks that was definitely mirrored in Jun’s.  
  
“Jerk,” Jun accused, even though he didn’t mean it.  
  
Sho only smirked.  
  
\--  
  
Sho spent most of the five hours on the way back home holding Jun’s hand, sneaking kisses when nobody was looking and enjoying the way Jun got flustered after. Jun upped the game and rested his hand on Sho’s knee as he pressed a kiss to his neck once they reached Nirasaki, and Sho, like the trip back to the onsen three days ago, wished for Shinjuku to be farther away.  
  
Eventually he had to part with Jun, with Jun heading for another train line to get home and him hailing a taxi outside Shinjuku Station. He and Jun had exchanged numbers, promising to call each other as soon as they caught up with work and had more time in their hands.  
  
Unfortunately, Sho had underestimated the work Suzuhara-san had for him when he showed up for work the following day, and that was before being shuffled to the meetings that lasted an entire day.  
  
Sho had loads of travel guides to review and itineraries to add suggestions to. He had to polish his English since Suzuhara-san assigned him with three-fourths of the foreign tours and provided him with a flash drive containing English videos about the popular tourist spots in Tokyo as “reference”.  
  
So Sho immersed himself in his work, eager to do his best and prove himself. He reviewed the proposals Suzuhara-san had for the daytime and early nighttime tours, adding helpful comments and providing insight.  
  
And before Sho knew it, it had been more than a week since he’d arrived in Tokyo, and that he wasn’t able to squeeze in his schedule the simple act of calling Jun or sending him a message.  
  
Not that Jun had sent him any, because Sho only got work emails and the usual ‘how are you doing’ messages from his sister and his mom. He figured Jun was terribly busy too, given his job and the growing popularity of overseas travel.  
  
Instead of contacting Jun in any way though, he decided to begin editing the videos he’d recorded during his stay in Nagano. He could use it as a reason to ask Jun to meetup, saying he was going to hand over the travel video he edited as promised.  
  
Sho didn’t want to intrude in any of Jun’s work so he never had the courage to just dial the number and have a chat. Despite everything they had done in Hakuba, all those long talks during the night, the teasing and the jabs to each other’s ego, Sho couldn’t be brave and attempt to reconnect.  
  
He had no idea what Jun was doing. Was he overworked and stressed? Most likely. Had he been worrying about client preferences all week, neglecting himself just so he could do a good job? Definitely. Sho was genuinely concerned, but he didn’t have the guts to call Jun and find out for himself because he feared that their time in Nagano had passed. He and Jun mutually agreed on giving each other space to adjust, but the longer it took Sho to muster up the courage to call—say hello, anything—the more he felt that he would only end up wasting Jun’s time.  
  
So he poured all his efforts into editing that travel video, despite finding that most of his clips had only Jun’s smile or him laughing at something Sho had said. Looking at his laptop screen as he watched them share a meal in Uzuraya, something clenched in him as soon as he heard Jun’s laugh and his rating of five ‘Matsu’s for the tempura soba.  
  
Sho ended up sleeping late on a Friday night because he’d spent more time watching his videos than actually compiling them. He realized how badly he missed having Jun around when he rewatched his temporary output and got to that part wherein Jun turned the camera to his own face and said “This is Matsumoto” with Matsumoto Castle towering behind him.  
  
He chose to stay home for that day, using his Saturday to have a decent output he’d be proud to hand over to Jun when he finally had the guts to contact him. It was almost six in the early evening when his phone rang, an unknown number calling, and Sho hurriedly picked up.  
  
It was Nino.  
  
“Hello, Sho-chan! How’s Tokyo?” was the lively greeting, and Sho spent a few minutes talking about how his colleagues thanked him for the Hakuba coffee and how those he’d given sake to seemed utterly pleased about the souvenir.  
  
He also informed Nino that he had recommended the onsen to his curious coworkers, something Nino thanked him for.  
  
“Why did you call?” Sho asked when he ran out of things to talk about and was pacing his room in worry. Did he forget something in the onsen? Did Nino forget to tell him something important?  
  
“I’m going to give you an address so write it down,” was Nino’s answer.  
  
Sho hurried to his desk to grab a stack of post-its and the nearest pen, scribbling the address Nino dictated twice. “What do you want me to do with this?” he asked as soon as Nino confirmed that he had jotted down the correct one.  
  
He could hear Nino grin on the other side of the line. “Have dinner there.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“You heard me,” Nino muttered, chuckling a little. “You’ve been working too hard, haven’t you? I want you to get on your car, drive, go to that place. Tell the staff you know me so you can avail the house special.”  
  
“Wait, Nino—”  
  
“Last order’s at 9PM so hurry up. Their mabo tofu’s really good so that’s my number one recommendation. Till next time, Sho-chan.”  
  
Nino cut the line after that, leaving Sho staring at his phone. He checked the time, seeing that it was 6:15PM, and he shut off his laptop. He grabbed his coat and car keys, leaving his apartment to do what Nino said and go out for a drive.  
  
He was getting hungry anyway.  
  
\--  
  
Jun had been looking forward to the weekend after coming back to four client recommendations. One family wanted to go to Portugal because the son was a Cristiano Ronaldo fan and would like to see his idol’s homeland. A newly-married couple wanted to visit Amsterdam for their honeymoon, a single woman wanted to go to the Bahamas, and two siblings would like to see New Zealand. Jun had to deal with their requests independently, given that their destinations were in different continents, and while he enjoyed the challenge these clients brought, it hardly gave him time for anything else.  
  
Of course, the moment he’d showed up in the office, Aiba had been waiting for him. He’d been sitting on Jun’s desk with two cups of coffee, a bright smile on his face as he handed Jun one and drank the other.  
  
Aiba kept asking him questions about Hakuba, if he found skiing enjoyable or if the food was really good. Aiba wanted to know how he’d rate Nino’s place and seemed truly happy when Jun said he honestly enjoyed himself and would love to come back some other time.  
  
But since Jun was swamped with work and Aiba was, too, they postponed the chat for another day and dealt with their respective clients. Unfortunately, Jun underestimated the process of having a proposed itinerary approved, so he ended up making three revisions to the Bahamas trip before he was able to acquire his client’s approval.  
  
Before Jun knew it, more than a week had passed and he still had to book two international flights to Narita. It gave him no time to deal with anything else. He brought his work home, polishing proposed budgets and itineraries even on a Saturday.  
  
He absentmindedly answered his phone when it rang, only to hear Aiba’s enthusiastic voice telling him to put on a jacket and go downstairs because they were going somewhere.  
  
“What?” Jun asked loudly since he put the phone on loud speaker. “Where are we going? I have to finish this, Aiba-san.”  
  
“We’re going to Chiba because I miss Chiba. And we’re going to eat at my family’s restaurant because it’s been a while and I really miss my mom.”  
  
Jun sighed, removing his glasses to rub at his tired eyes. He’d been staring at the computer for too long. “Why me? Don’t you have Kazama-kun to invite?”  
  
Jun could practically hear the excitement from Aiba’s voice. “That guy always gets free food from me and he can use a night without it. I’m downstairs, so come on, let’s go! I’m the one driving anyway! I know you’re busy, Matsujun; you always are. But come on. It’s a Saturday night.”  
  
Jun stood up and grabbed his coat. He’d skipped lunch and it was time for dinner so his stomach was rebelling against him. Aiba meant no harm, he figured. Aiba must have been looking out for him as always, whenever he was on the verge of overworking himself. “Fine, but you’re paying.”  
  
“It’s my family’s restaurant! They can’t charge me!” Aiba pointed out animatedly as Jun reached over his desk to grab a hat. “I’ll be waiting downstairs, okay?”  
  
The line was cut after that, and Jun spent a few moments staring at the hat in his hands. It was Sho’s, the same camouflage bucket hat Sho had left on his seat when they got off the train. Sho had asked him to hold on to it as he fixed his stuff, but Sho never really got to retrieve it because he had to call for a taxi and Jun had been so busy trying to find his rail pass that he’d forgotten to hand it over.  
  
Jun should’ve called. He knew it. He had been putting it off because he and Sho had agreed on giving each other time to cope with the workload they’d find on their hands upon their return, but he knew he should’ve called. At least, he should have sent a message since he had Sho’s number, but he let his work eat up his time and he focused on so many other things.  
  
He wanted to contact Sho. Badly. He missed Sho and there were times he’d find someplace interesting in his research for his clients’ destinations and he’d wonder what Sho would have to say about it. But for some reason he just couldn’t hit the call button, because one of his lingering fears since Hakuba was that it was just a fling, a one-time thing despite him asking Sho out and Sho saying yes.  
  
His phone beeped with another message from Aiba, one that simply said ‘Matsujun, let’s go!!!!!’, and Jun grabbed the hat and put it on as he left his apartment.  
  
“Ah, took you long enough!” was Aiba’s welcome when he finally arrived at the lobby of his apartment building. Aiba’s gaze drifted past his eyes. “I thought you were a fedora guy.”  
  
Jun shrugged, not wanting to elaborate. He hoped Aiba was planning on getting drunk tonight so he could gather the courage to call Sho and just hear his voice and his laugh. It felt like it had been too long since he heard that. “Are we going or not?”  
  
Aiba grinned, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as they walked out together. “I told my mom I’m bringing a friend along and she was so thankful it wasn’t Kazapon. She’s so used to seeing his face.”  
  
“Did you ever bring Nino to your family’s restaurant?” Jun asked when he was putting on the seatbelt and Aiba started the car.  
  
“Nino practically lived in my house even when they still had that house in Katsushika,” Aiba said with a grin on his face. “My grandpa told Nino we should just get married because we were always together.”  
  
Jun laughed at that. “And you didn’t think of coming with him to Nagano?”  
  
Aiba hummed as they reached Metropolitan Expressway. “I did, actually. Nino invited me to manage that onsen with him and I really thought about it."  
  
“But you didn’t go.”  
  
Aiba shook his head, a smile on his face. “No. I don’t know anything about managing a business, Matsujun. Nino is the one with the degree, not me. So I said no but I promised Nino I was going to help his business in any way I can. And he accepted, no hard feelings. I even saw him off.”  
  
“So you help him by recommending clients to his onsen,” Jun concluded, earning Aiba’s nod. “Nino’s place is actually nice. Fitting for winter. Great view of the mountains, excellent food and facilities, and not too far from the Shinkansen.”  
  
Aiba grinned. “That’s Nino’s management for you. There might only be the three of them, him with Haruka-chan and Leader, but they’re actually good at maintaining that place. I get really happy when I recommend that place to people and they come back praising it.”  
  
“You call Ohno-san ‘Leader’?” Jun clarified, something Aiba nodded enthusiastically at.  
  
“Nino doesn’t call him that?” Aiba asked, surprised.  
  
Jun shook his head. “He calls him ‘Oh-chan’.”  
  
“Ah well, there’s that too. But I call him Leader for old times’ sake. The three of us sort of grew up together, after all. He’s Leader because he’s really the best at doing somersaults back when we were kids and playing together.”  
  
“How did you meet Ohno-san?” Jun asked, genuinely curious.  
  
He and Aiba finally reached Keiyo Road. “Nino introduced me to him. Leader was visiting, you see. Leader is the original guy from Nagano. Nino met him when he visited his relatives there, and when Leader went to Tokyo, Nino introduced us. And then Nino and I went back with him to Nagano to spend the summer there. We played all the time. Whenever Leader dropped by, the three of us would hung out a lot in the restaurant. Everything’s delicious for Leader, you know?”  
  
“I didn’t know that,” Jun admitted, smiling at Aiba’s obvious fondness for his two friends. “And Haruka-san?”  
  
“Haruka-chan was the only one who answered Nino’s job ad that didn’t really specify a position,” Aiba recalled with a giggle. “I met her when I visited the onsen on Nino’s invitation. That was years ago though. Five or six? Around that.”  
  
“She reminded me of you,” Jun told Aiba, remembering Haruka’s tendency to not realize what she was saying until it was too late.  
  
Aiba laughed. “Nino said the same thing. Sometimes I think that guy misses me a lot. He denies it every time I say it though.”  
  
“Of course he does,” Jun said, shaking his head. “I asked Nino to come to Tokyo with Ohno-san and Haruka-san for karaoke.”  
  
“Hey, that sounds nice!” Aiba commented like he was truly pleased.  
  
“You’re coming along, idiot,” Jun told him, shooting him an incredulous look. Aiba only laughed. “We’re doing it after winter season so they can take a break and come here.”  
  
“Just the five of us?” Aiba asked, his eyes fixed on the road.  
  
Jun stared at him for a while. All this time, Aiba had never asked about Sho. Jun knew that Aiba had a bit of information (save for Sho’s name if Nino had been telling the truth) about what happened to him in Nagano, but this was the first time Aiba had implied that he did know something.  
  
Jun ran his fingers over the material of the hat on his lap, unsure of how to answer Aiba’s question. What was he going to say? That he was stupid and he didn’t call Sho when he should have? That it had been a week and four days and he still didn’t send a message, not even a little hello despite being the one who asked Sho out? That he was a coward who used work as his excuse?  
  
“We’re here,” Aiba informed him, saving him from all the explanations. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my mom. She always wanted to meet someone who wasn’t Kazapon or Nino.”  
  
Aiba guided him inside the restaurant after locking the car, and Jun was introduced to a woman who looked too youthful to be Aiba’s mom but had similar facial features. She was pretty and had the same welcoming smile her son had, very friendly and accommodating as she guided Jun to a seat for two in the corner of the establishment.  
  
Aiba only sat down for a few moments, at least until Jun told him what he wanted to have for tonight, then Aiba moved to leave.  
  
“I’m going to help around the kitchen,” Aiba claimed, trying to wink at Jun but utterly failing. He could never wink. “I’m hardly here and I feel guilty.”  
  
“Please don’t experiment too much with our food,” Jun reminded him.  
  
Aiba rolled his sleeves up and flexed his arm, patting his biceps. “Leave it to Masaki, Matsujun!”  
  
He left then, not bothering to stay for Jun’s retort of “that’s exactly what scares me”. Jun set Sho’s hat on the table, looking at it for a few moments before he was finally able to pull out his phone and scroll through his contacts to find Sho’s name.  
  
Jun stared at the impersonal gray circle with the first kanji of Sho’s name. His phone could never convey everything he had come to associate with Sho, and that was including the bucket hat right in front of him.  
  
He remembered Sho’s laughs, his passion for videos and eating, the way he would perk up when he had vital information to share about a particular place. He recalled how Sho didn’t know about adding Worcestershire sauce to potato salad and how that was one of the things he taught Sho without meaning to.  
  
His finger hovered on the call button when someone’s shadow suddenly blocked the light overhead, and he looked up, his stomach knotting when he saw who it was.  
  
\--  
  
Sho honestly hadn’t expected to find Jun here.  
  
He arrived in the restaurant Nino had told him about, reading the bright sign Keikarou and stepping inside to inquire for any vacancies since it was a Saturday night.  
  
A man around the same age as Sho was waiting beside the reception desk and when Sho said he was here because of a recommendation by a certain Ninomiya Kazunari, the man grinned and ushered him inside. The man kept the happy, friendly smile on his face despite having no nameplate and not dressed like any of the staff as he pointed to a table in the corner that was half-hidden by a post.  
  
Sho approached the designated seat without expecting anything, but when he saw his familiar hat (he only realized that it was missing right at that moment), he quickly turned to look at the person seated on the table. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he saw the familiar brown hair and glasses.  
  
Jun looked up when he stopped by the table, and Sho couldn’t really name the expression there. Jun was shocked, yes, but there was something else on his face that Sho couldn’t really focus on because he was still reeling from the fact that it was Jun. Seated right there. After days of not seeing him or being anywhere near him, Jun was here in Chiba, looking just as surprised as Sho.  
  
Sho had to hold on to the back of the nearest chair to ground himself. “Can I sit?” he asked shakily, his heart pounding.  
  
Jun only nodded, and Sho lowered himself on the chair carefully, unsure of what to say now that Jun was right in front of him and within reach. Jun was holding his phone in one hand and the other was on top of Sho’s hat, and Sho looked past Jun’s face to see his hair somewhat flattened.  
  
“Did you wear that on the way here?” Sho asked, trying to keep himself from smiling.  
  
Jun blushed, and Sho wanted to reach for his hand just to remember how it felt like to hold it. “It was the first thing I saw. Aiba-kun…well, this wasn’t planned. He just came to pick me up.”  
  
Sho turned to the entrance and caught the gaze and knowing smile of the same man who showed him to his seat. Sho now knew who he was. Aiba. The travel agent who was responsible for sending Jun to Nagano in the first place. And now the man who made them meet again, though now that Sho thought about it, Nino was definitely part of the plan. Nino had provided him with the address, after all.  
  
“How did you get here?” Jun asked, still in a state of disbelief.  
  
“Nino called me,” Sho said, and he caught Jun turning to glare at Aiba, who now had both hands steepled in front of him and was bowing in apology despite being so far away.  
  
“They’re so meddlesome,” Jun muttered, shaking his head, but there were hints of a smile on his face. He tucked his phone back in his pocket and ran his hand through his hair.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Sho blurted out, unable to keep it to himself any longer. “I should’ve called. I should have sent you a message, anything really. I was trying to finish the travel video so I would have a reason to call you, but I really should have just called.”  
  
Jun shook his head, looking annoyed with himself. “That’s my line. I have your hat.” Jun tilted his head towards it for emphasis. “And it was me who asked you out before we left the inn. That was more than enough reason. I should have called you, but I didn’t because I was worried I’d get in your way. Stupid, I know. I’m not exactly good at this kind of thing.” Jun stroked his nose with his thumb, his eyes fixed on the table and the tissue container between them. “But I’m really sorry.”  
  
Sho felt like something heavy was lifted off his shoulders, relief washing over him in waves. He missed Jun. The sound of his voice, the look in his eyes whenever he smiled, his childlike grins that always tugged at Sho’s heart. How did he manage more than a week of not seeing any of that or hearing Jun’s voice? He had been as stubborn and stupid as Jun.  
  
If Nino and Aiba hadn’t taken matters in their own hands, Sho would have lost something important before he even realized it.  
  
Sho pulled out his phone without replying, scrolling through his contacts to find Jun’s number and pressing the call button. He put the phone on his ear and inclined his head towards Jun when Jun shot him a questioning look after his phone rang, a gesture for him to answer it.  
  
Jun picked up, and his soft “yes, hello?” made Sho smile.  
  
“Now that I finally called,” Sho began, stomping down on the nerves that threatened to eat him alive so he could get the next words out, “I want to ask Matsumoto-san something.”  
  
Jun looked like he was simultaneously nervous and suppressing himself to laugh at Sho’s silliness, but he indulged Sho. “And what’s that, Sakurai-san?”  
  
Sho swallowed, deciding that there was no turning back. He’d be a fool to let go of this one after finding it once more. “Will Matsumoto Jun-san be amenable to going out with Sakurai Sho even after this dinner? Sakurai promises that he’s not a criminal and won’t try anything funny. If Matsumoto-san has a curfew, Sakurai promises to return him on time.”  
  
Jun buried half of his face in his other hand as he laughed, his shoulders shaking as he tried to keep it together. The restaurant was still crowded and they really didn’t want to disturb any of the patrons.  
  
“Matsumoto-san?” Sho asked when Jun still kept laughing, and Jun straightened up, wiping at the corner of his eye with his thumb. “Sakurai Sho really wants to know Matsumoto-san better now that they’re out of Nagano, but only if Matsumoto-san is open to the idea.”  
  
Jun looked at him with overflowing fondness, and Sho felt like his heart was on the verge of leaping out of his ribcage. “Can I say one thing to Sakurai-san?”  
  
“Anything,” Sho said sincerely, hands clammy as he waited for what was Jun going to say next.  
  
“I want Sakurai-san to know that I’m trying very hard not to kiss him right now.”  
  
Sho couldn’t help blushing at the bold declaration, his smile wide enough to split his face. “Is that Matsumoto-san’s way of saying yes? Because Sakurai needs to hear it. He hasn’t done this for a long time and is unsure of what to do next.”  
  
“Yes,” Jun finally said, his smile beautiful and everything Sho wanted to see ever since they had parted ways. “I think Matsumoto Jun is amenable to Sakurai Sho’s proposal.”  
  
Sho ended the call and put his phone down, just in time for Aiba to approach their table and bring them food. Sho noticed that Nino’s recommended mabo tofu was included.  
  
“Sho-san, meet Aiba Masaki, Nino’s other half,” Jun said in fake annoyance, his lips twitching as he fought the urge to grin. “Aiba-san, this is Sakurai Sho.”  
  
“I take it you guys reconnected?” Aiba asked with a knowing grin, and when Sho inclined his head, he did a fist pump. “I got to tell Nino then. Nice to meet you, Sho-chan. I now know who to run to if Matsujun threatens me with anything after this.”  
  
Sho laughed, finding that he liked Aiba already.  
  
“You’re such snoops,” Jun accused Aiba, but it lacked fire in it. Jun looked at Sho first before turning back to his colleague. “Don’t involve him in this.”  
  
Aiba wiggled his finger at him. “Ah, ah. But wasn’t it you who declared war on us, on me and Nino? You asked for it, Matsujun. Now I better go. I think I did my job and because of that, Nino now owes me a free night in his ryokan.”  
  
Aiba walked away without another word, hurriedly typing on his phone, presumably telling Nino everything. Sho turned back to Jun, taking in his sharp features that often gave people the wrong impression. He really liked Jun, he realized, after seeing his face again and finally managing to ask him out, albeit in a really weird manner since Sho honestly had no idea how. Jun was attractive, and Sho was certain he’d gotten a lot of invitations in the past.  
  
But Jun had given him his yes, and that meant the one thing that made Sho’s heart thump madly inside his chest.  
  
Jun liked him back and was willing to try things out with him.  
  
For Sho, that was more than enough.  
  
\--  
  
As soon as they left Keikarou, Jun placed the hat on Sho’s head.  
  
“It never really suited me the way it did you,” he said, enjoying Sho’s sheepish grin at the praise.  
  
Sho only nodded, walking towards the parking spots. “Would you like to go for a drive?” he asked, not really looking at Jun.  
  
Jun checked his watch for the time and didn’t mind the late hour. “I don’t have a curfew,” he said, and Sho laughed. “Where are we going?”  
  
Sho looked uncertain, and he chewed on his bottom lip as he thought about it. Jun waited patiently, finding that waiting was of no consequence now that he found Sho again. It took him days and a Nino and an Aiba, but he found Sho again.  
  
Jun vowed he wasn’t going to let go so easily this time.  
  
“Up to you,” Sho finally answered, a boyish grin on his round face. “I didn’t exactly plan for this.”  
  
Jun stepped closer, grateful for the lateness of the hour because they were alone despite still standing in front of Aiba’s family restaurant. “That’s the first time I heard you say you have nothing planned.” He reached for Sho’s hand, letting the familiarity wash over him. He had missed this. How was he able to delude himself that he was doing fine without this? Without Sho?  
  
He squeezed Sho’s hand. “I can deal with no plans.”  
  
Sho grinned, and Jun really couldn’t resist anymore. He leaned in to kiss Sho, who immediately responded with something like a noise of relief coming out of his mouth. Jun allowed himself to remember the feeling Sho with him, pouring everything he couldn't say into each kiss they shared. They kissed for a while, until Sho pulled away with a tiny laugh.  
  
“You taste like mabo tofu,” Sho informed him, and Jun gave him a little shove. Sho stumbled backwards, but he yanked Jun back to him, one arm looping around Jun’s waist. “I like mabo tofu.”  
  
Jun flicked him on the forehead. “I thought we were going for a drive.”  
  
Sho laced their fingers together, his touch and earnest smile warming Jun. “All right.”  
  
Jun tilted his chin towards the nearest car. “Is that yours?”  
  
Sho tugged him along until they stood beside a black Nissan Note. “This one, I’m afraid.” He let Jun go and Jun went to the passenger’s side, waiting for Sho to unlock the doors.  
  
As soon as they were inside, Jun reached up to play with the red fluffy dice that was hanging on the rear view mirror. “Okay,” he said as soon as Sho has settled. Jun fastened his seatbelt, leaning back. “Let’s go.”  
  
Sho started the car but didn’t drive. Not yet, at least. “Where to, Matsumoto-san?”  
  
Jun looked out towards the road before them, noting that the city lights seemed to float because of the darkness. Ahead, the road winded, but out there on the horizon, the concrete seemed to merge with the sky full of stars, as if it led to an infinite path full of possibilities.  
  
As long as he was with Sho, there could only be one answer.  
  
“Anywhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing makes me happier than the insertion of canon in AUs so here's a short list of the things I chucked in here that took considerable inspiration from reality:
> 
>   * Sho was once in a band called ZEUS because of his love for X Japan.
>   * The shellfish incident in Mie was taken from Sho’s Abunai Yakai in Miyagi, aired on 10/15/2015.
>   * The "Matsumoto desu yo" scene was inspired by Horikita Maki's VIP Room episode in HnA, aired on 12/17/2009.
>   * Jun’s Michael Jackson phone case was taken from one of the MCs in Japonism Tour last year.
>   * All futsal references were inspired by the 07/2011 Non-no.
>   * The "oxygen cylinder" exchange was taken (almost verbatim) from 10/15/2011 Mini Station, where Jun talked about Sho's snoring in training camp and even imitated how it sounded.
>   * The scene in the taxi was inspired by 10/15/2005 Mago Mago Arashi. [Here](http://tsuibo.tumblr.com/post/130844398512) is a photoset of it (credits to tsuibo).
>   * The potato salad scene was inspired by Sho and Jun’s HnA Share House with Fukiishi Kazue, aired on 09/06/2012.
>   * Aiba’s grandpa told him and Nino to get married because they were always together.
> 

> 
> This story’s plot was mostly inspired by Sho’s trip to Iwate for Shiyagare (aired 03/07/2015), as well as that Mannequin Five in which Sho and Jun both had the image of a mountain resort winter date.
> 
> Many thanks to the [Hakuba Tourism](http://www.hakubatourism.jp/essentialguide/) website for pretty much everything. All locations used in the fic are as accurate as what I gathered from this site.
> 
> The title came from Keane's Somewhere Only We Know, which has no relation to the story whatsoever.


End file.
